An Evening with Dancing Rogues
Choreography by Sara Herrera-Kopetchny,
Sylvana Christopher, Hayley Cutler
Epic Yoga Studios
Washington, DC
December 14, 2013
by George Jackson
copyright 2013 by George Jackson
An icy rain not withstanding, the streets surrounding Dupont Circle were crammed on Saturday night. It seemed to be a holiday crowd bent on partying, people mostly in their 20s with quite a few wearing Santa Claus caps. Upstairs at 1323 Connecticut Avenue NW, in the yoga studios, a young group too was gathering. It was for a dance performance – one definitely not “The Nutcracker”. Three of the city’s newer choreographers had joined forces to show their work – three brief pieces each. The audience was asked to seat itself (mostly on the floor) in a different Epic Yoga room for each set. Temperamentally distinct, the choreographers shared certain formal and technical habits.
Sara Herrera-Kopetchny, whose home base is the Aras Dance group, showed closely related studies in movement dynamics. In “Abuelo’s Requiem” the bodies of four women sway like bells and the group pendulates to minimalist music (by Abel Korzeniowski). It is dancing that becomes quite fleet. In “Heeeeyy”, four women again move jointly or sequentially (two and two) but rhythmic waves run down their bodies and the hips gyrate to a beat (music by The Knife). They exit leaving one woman behind momentarily. “Tri” is for just a pair of women. They both challenge and spur each other on into high velocity rotations plus choreographed pauses of rest and preparation in which there is sitting down, fixing the hair, or straightening a bit of clothing. The sound score (by Explosions in the Sky) chimes and pulses. Irrespective of whether the dominant movement in these dances is swaying or pulsing or turning, there’s quite a bit of varied stepping too. The first two numbers analogize the female body to things inanimate. The duo is a very human dance. Beyond being technical demonstrations, all three works generate a body poetry.
Sylvana Christopher, of Glade Dance Collective, relishes drama. One of her chief tools is asymmetry – odd angles, off balances. “Strings” (music by Scott Weiland) is about conflict among its protagonists – a male puppet and two rather similar female puppets. “Blush” (music by Ben Bailes and Stephen Gardener) is an intense pilgrimage for a lone woman (the choreographer in a red gown) who reaches her goal but crumbles. “T.R.I.B.E.”, an acrobatic ritual (chanting by Vas), is for a cast of five who jump, twirl, crouch and apewalk energetically. Christopher gives no specific clues to her plots, yet leaves little doubt that all isn’t harmony among the threesome moving as if on strings. Nor does she reveal what her solo quest is about as she forges forward intensely, twistedly, then walks plainly yet carefully, then again intensely. At journey’s end, does she sink into a state of slumber, coma or death? We know only that the journey was no lark. And, about the rite her tribe was enacting, weren’t there glints of elation as well as hints of fear? Christopher staunchly, wisely refuses to satisfy our curiosity with trivia. It’s the dramatic dilemma that counts.
Hayley Cutler, of darlingdance, seems more interested in configuring intellectual puzzles. Drama plays a role in her dances but doesn’t appear to be their purpose. The three women of “Liberty” confront us straight on and twitch to droning music (by The Shangri-Las). The “threehumans” piece (music by The Zombies) with just two dancers, man and woman, self involved in solo movement (quivers, walks, stands) I somehow linked to the “And Every Year is Zero” piece (music by The Black Keys), with its male and female doing fussy twists alone as well as lifts together. Is the couple in the latter the answer to the two more singular individuals in the former? In all three dances the choreographer enjoys challenging different body types.
The vocabulary of movement displayed by each of the three dance makers was robustly varied. Moreover they showed both the technical and theatrical uses of step and stance. Too predictable at times was the alternation of high energy activity or complex configuration with relaxations and simple states. Up then down, impulse then pause, inhale then exhale are natural patterns but counterpointing the opposites instead of always sequencing them should be part of craft and artistry.
Photo: a dance by Sara Herrera-Kopetchny. Photo: Sylvana Christopher.