Festival Twenty Ten
Dance Theater Workshop
New York, NY
September 8, 2010
By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2010 by Carol Pardo
Ten dances, even at seven minutes per, is a hefty helping of dance to consume at one sitting. Perhaps that’s why charisma and comedy shown most brightly on opening night of Festival Twenty Ten.
Charisma was in plentiful supply during two solos danced by their choreographers: Camille A. Brown’s "Good & Grown" and Khaleah London’s "Being." Brown’s every joint and muscle were individually and collectively sharp and articulate as she grew from girl to young woman in tandem with Wes Montgomery’s take on "It Was a Very Good Year." But as the song wound down, her movement lost its fierce edge. Her body sagged to the side her center of gravity dropped, like overripe fruit on the vine withering away with death in the wind.
"Being" is a study in fluidity and control, all long limbs and high extensions. Its costume, a nearly backless yellow jumpsuit increased the wattage on stage. The choreographer’s canny sense of timing and inclusion of unexpected details made the solo more than a demonstration of a trained dancer at work. None of those extensions was held long enough to become self-indulgent. By the time a cheer rumbled through the house (which was often), both phrase and focus had shifted. Stretching toward the heavens, her legs turned in rather than reaching uninterruptedly upward. Ease became ungainly, undercutting the body beautiful.
Part of the appeal of David Parker’s T4THREE was the frankly retro music in an otherwise up to the minute soundtrack: "Tea for Two" and, bringing the fragrance of Debbie Reynolds and "Singing in the Rain" with it, "All I Do Is Dream of You." The dance borrows, and expands on, the dance rhythms of the number in the film, exploring the percussive possibilities of three guys with bare feet—feet flat, feet falling from the heel into the floor, or just brushing the floor, like an old soft shoe routine. It shifts from trio to duet back to trio, with a poignant moment in that last shift when the couple welcomes the third back into the fold.
If one requirement of each work presented at the festival is its length, the other is that each work must contain a concise artistic message. Deborah Lohse is a compelling performer, her mobile face contrasting with her strong forthright legs. But the intent of her solo "Work," credited to fifteen choreographers, was unclear. I missed the message of Kyle Abraham’s solo, caught up as I was in the interactions of his costume, black in front, all silver sequins in back, light and shadow and movement.
The remaining works, all for groups of various sizes, had as their themes either the odd person out, the last one standing, or that old standby the fraught relationship. Of these, an excerpt from Dusan Tynek’s "Middlegame" used the communal form of a square dance to express the disjunction between two couples, beginning with the fact that participants spent most of their time seated.
Only "Mile 21," presented by the Jamal Jackson Dance Company lacked a clear message, coming across as an exercise rather than a fully reasoned piece.
But at seven minutes, even disappointment doesn’t last forever and, if something is wonderful, you’re left wanting more.