Rays of Sunlight Amidst the World's Woe

CityDance Ensemble
4th Floor Studio
Music Center at Strathmore
North Bethesda, Maryland
December 4, 2009

by George Jackson
copyright 2009 by George Jackson

The big and new work on this bill, "About Wishes of the Sailor", involved at least 4 choreographers, the music of 6 composers and texts by several of its approximately 10 performers. It concerns Iraqi refugees. Two of the three short works which preceded "Sailor", Meisha Bosma's piece of women's testimony  "Souvenirs" and Christopher K. Morgan's men's declaration "Unusable Signal", also dealt with the problems of survival. Only the program's "special performance" by CityDance students opted for a happier mood. Cleanly trained and well coordinated without displaying competition tricks, the students turned the straightforward group choreography of Alex Neoral's "Trajectory" into a team effort that was fresh and looked to the future. Still, it wasn't all sunshine but just rays because only a couple of the 23 dancers on this youth squad were male. 

 "Sailor" aims for a panoramic sweep of refugee predicaments but doesn't yet cohere throughout. Fascinating is the many characters' utter isolation in one section. They intrude on each others space, some gravitate towards one another and two almost dance together and yet all of them seem afraid to admit that they are not alone. Such behavior deserves further exploration from the choreographers! The violence of an earlier section is too reminiscent of Paul Taylor's "Last Look", which is in CityDance's repertory. Undoubtedly, "Sailor" hasn't reached its ultimate form.

Bosma's five women seem to have experienced violence and their dance can be taken as a souvenir of that event. Articulating their joints twitchily, attacking each other lyrically, falling onto their backs  with a ferine force, they respond to challenges but also enact rituals. Bosma groups them cleverly - 1 vs. 4, all 5 together, 2 vs. 3 and has the dance end as it began with 1 vs. 4. "Souvenir" , made  in 2007, was this program's subtlest item. 

Morgan's "Unusable Signal" comes with a program note that refers to incompatible electronic devices. Three men deliver wads of aggressive, almost mechanical motion until a boy enters, begins to tear pages from a stack of books and scatters them across the floor. He is cherubic looking and goes about his task with innocence and diligence. Visually the ripped out pages, like fallen autumn leaves, enhance the scene, yet I can't help seeing this work as grave robbing - destroying books in order to make a dance.     

Paul Gordon Emerson's company is in fine form this season, particularly the "Souvenirs" quintet  - Giselle Alvarez, Elizabeth Gahl, Delphina Parenti, Kathryn Pilkington and Alice Belle Wylie. The contrasting bodies of the "Unusable Signal" trio - compact Jason Garcia Ignacio, sturdy Maleek Mahkail Washington and streamlined William Smith harmonize due to their phrasing's clarity. Smith, new to the company and the DC area, is notable for his balletic articulation.