Monday, September 28, 2015

Watch This Swing

On Saturday, I was at the Fleck Dance Theatre for 3 world premieres from dance company proartedanza. Their recitals often combine contemporary choreography with classical technique and tonight showcased this forte.

The first piece, "(don't) follow the instructions", started with a dancer cleaning dishes. Or rather, her movements were forced on her by another person until she did it herself: an abusive partner, a cold-hearted boss? This theme was carried out throughout the piece as dancers came and went: their interactions and movements sometimes seemed spontaneous, but usually resembled coercion and disciplinary punishment. The company's typical inclusion of props had the performers spinning, sliding, and skating on white bath towels.

The second piece, "Replace/me", also had many mirroring sequences. But its exploration of duplication and mimicry had dancers swapping in and out of each other's routines and entire sequences danced both forward and in "reverse". One section involved a male dancers whose yearning embraces toward another dancer were redirected by her to a stand-in until, perhaps in desperation or maybe in unknowing reinforcement, he accepted the substitute.

Unlike the first two pieces which immersed themselves in ambient soundscapes and industrial music, the last piece used the propulsive music of Beethoven's 9th - 2nd movement to drive the choreography. This was the completion of the company's trilogy based on this work. The row of chairs have returned in a nod to the other two compositions. It was also the most "classically pleasing" of the evening as the music lent itself perfectly to long stretches of physical, unison dancing. There's something about a large group of people executing identical movements (see also band marches and drum-lines) that's inherently thrilling. So in that way, it may also be another reflection on tonight's themes.

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