Journeys

Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company
Lisner Auditorium
Washington, DC
October 24, 2008

by George Jackson
copyright 2008 by George Jackson

Following one of Burgess’ dances is like traveling through unfamiliar territory with a consummate guide. A sense of adventure persists even approaching the end of a work. Only later do you realize that the finds you think you’re making were put there at precisely the moment they mattered – as when the two couples in “Meditation” weave long, mellow, looping phrases but also raise a question. Why the two pairs, why wouldn’t one couple suffice since they pretty much duplicate the same line and phrasing? Just then you notice slight but certain differences in what they do. You could grow tired of this light counterpoint, but before that happens a third couple enters boldly so that true change reigns. In “Chino Latino” people dance together with real partners or ones yearned for but also seem aware of others on the club’s floor. No actual club set or dance crowd exist, but the feel of a specific place is tangible and there's pressure as if others were present. In “Khaybet”, a solo for a veiled female figure, we watch cloth that at first becomes one with the flesh it covers. Then, though, does it try to stifle the life articulating and agitating so persistently within its folds? The brand new “Hyphen” joins and segregates, binds or puts barriers between individuals, ideas, emotions, time present and memory. To bring such sights into view takes some doing.

The company is polished. Among its dozen dancers are ones from the group’s founding 16 years ago, but even newcomers show the dominant Burgess traits of clarity and finesse. This choreographer doesn’t often ask his casts for virtuosity, even of the modern dance sort. Strength, though, is palpable beneath the smooth surfaces of the bodies. Impulse flows beyond individual moves and phrases to shape an entire dance. Supporting the choreography – generally all by Burgess, as on this bill – are expert lighting (by Maja E. White) and costuming (by Judy Hansen) that give figures a sculptural presence and space a tangible air. In music, Burgess’ taste is conservatively modern (Philip Glass for “Khaybet”, Lou Harrison for “Meditations”) with digressions: Chino Latino dance music for the work with that title and a Laura Macdonald montage of a Ryuichi Sakomoto composition, chat and other sounds for “Hyphen”. Of course, the company can’t afford live musicians but uses quality recordings and sensible amplification. Resident in DC, there’s nothing “home made” or “local” about this group’s productions either at home or on tour.

The “Hyphen” premiere is for 11 live dancers plus footage of Nam June Paik (1932-2006), the video experimenter. As a dance, it seems to be about awkwardness and agility. The two states keep contrasting and merging. Much of the awkwardness stems from the video footage, particularly from an ineffectual, picky unbuttoning motion to which Paik subjects the shirt he wears. This gesture seeps from the screen into the dance. In the dancing, motion freezes and thaws. There’s much movement at low levels and over the floor. Body parts are angled, twisted and unfurled. Dancers are positioned in relation or opposition to each other. They handle bright new TV sets and antique Asian bowls. They seem hypnotized by Paik’s enlarged image on the backdrop screen. This is movement territory as substantially new as anything I’ve seen lately in Bytom, Copenhagen, New York, San Francisco, Vienna or Washington. As a thematic statement, “Hyphen” is about the stringent, conflicted immigrant status of so many lives. The piece stops but doesn’t really conclude.

Also new and a Washington first was the contemplative “Meditations”. Originally made earlier in 2008 for Ballet Memphis, the women’s roles in that version were on pointe. Dancing it off pointe required step changes according Burgess’ post performance discussion with moderator Elvi Moore. A viewer who had seen both versions found the Memphis edition less unisex because of the pointes and also due to different costuming. Meditating, though, doesn’t have to be about gender issues. This ballet has a gentle beauty.

That “Chino Latino”, from 2007, has become more compact gives it added impact. “Khaybet”, from 2003, could use tightening; Jennifer Rain Ferguson was the Friday evening soloist. Burgess appeared briefly in “Chino Latino. Officially retired from performing, he looked in shape – radiantly so. Cast opposite him was the vital Tati Valle-Riestra, one of the company’s mainstays. Shu-Chen Cuff, Katia Chupashko, Connie Lin Fink and Kelly Moss Southall completed the cast. The lovely Miyako Nitadori was in “Meditations” along with Florian Rouiller, Kevin Fay, Cuff, Ferguson and Southall. All those mentioned above plus Sarah Halzak and Ricardo Alvarez minus Burgess danced “Hyphen” - for which Rouiller in his solo hauntingly epitomized ambiguity.

Photo:  Jeff Watts