Romy Reading (left) and Paul Hamilton in "Twisting In, Falling Out."
(From left) Shannon Plumstead, Kristen Kurie, Allison Fall, and Annie Coombs in last weekend’s Rotate Dance performance.
Rachel Garner (left) and Keely Garfiled, "Free Drinks For Girls With Nuts."
|
Dance: Rotate Dance creates late-summer fireworks
September 8, 2005
By Julian Wise
Photos by Ralph Stewart
Dance Martha Dance!, the second choreographer's festival produced by Rotate Dance, blew into Oak Bluffs like a summer storm on August 26, twirling, kicking, and pirouetting its way across the stage at Union Chapel for two nights. Its supernova-like burst of artistic energy left audiences pleasantly dazed as they watched diverse choreographers express their creative visions.
The opening piece, "Twisting In and Falling Out" by Rotate co-founder Romy Reading, featured Ms. Reading and Paul Hamilton dancing a graceful ragtime number with traces of burlesque. As song segments from Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald played over the sound system, the two carried out a series of lithe, liquid spins, kicks, and sweeps. At times they stepped in unison with elbows akimbo like flappers in vintage film footage, while in other moments they spun each other around and performed arcing leaps. Ms. Reading was dressed in a striped red and black dress while Mr. Hamilton was shirtless and barefoot in charcoal-colored pants. The two of them were simply beautiful together, performing with beatific smiles as they moved in unison. It was an apt kick-off to the evening; sensual, frisky, precise, and jaunty.
"Immaculate Conception," choreographed by Germaul Barnes, featured dancers Hasi, Wanjiru Kamuyu, Paloma McGregor, Gerard Reyes, and Meghan Squires emerging in various states of oddity. A male moved on all fours with high heels on his hands. Another man walked in high heels and feminine attire. All dancers dressed in black. As racing piano notes cascaded around them, the dancers assumed frozen splits on the floor, and then rose to begin wing-like motions and simian steps. The piece descended into a hermetic hodge-podge of mudra-like hand gestures and balletic leaps. Some of the male-to-male dance moves achieved a level of physical intimacy that would make red-staters blush. Just as the piece seemed to be veering into chaos, a musical segue into a John Mayer song brought the piece back into a cohesive whole.
Daniel Gwirtzman's "Scenarios" was a physical and artistic wonder, a series of dramatic enactments that, while cryptic, contained an undeniable beauty and power. The physical contrasts between the dancers alone was a marvel. Mr. Gwirtzman was a tall, lithe dancer whose partners included the slender Cary McWiliam and the petite, muscular Jason Ignacio. The three dancers wove an elaborate interplay to the dirge-like music by Avro Part, often performing acrobatic feats where dancers would fall backwards, only to be stopped inches from the floor by another's hand on their back. The dramatic tableau was at times confrontational, at times submissive, as the dancers moved with limber elegance through kicks and spins.
"Free Drinks For Ladies With Nuts" by Keely Garfield was one of the more vexing pieces of the evening. Ms. Garfield and dancer Rachelle Garniez began dressed in bridal gowns. As Ms. Garniez strummed a guitar and sang twang-Americana lyrics like, "Take me back to Tulsa, I'm too young to marry," Ms. Garfield stomped around the stage quacking like a duck, making raspberry noises at the audience, glaring at the audience with a baleful, sour gaze and collapsing on the floor for stretches. Art or irritation? Provocation or petulance? Avant-garde or simply annoying? Each audience member had to make up his or her own mind. Rachelle Garniez's singing voice was a highlight of the piece, an instrument capable of Broadway ballads or acoustic country ballads.
The closing piece, "Quadroplex" by Rotate co-founder Eryc Taylor, featured dancers Annie Coombs, Allison Fall, Kristen Kurie, and Shannon Plumstead dressed up like a combination of the video vamps from Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love" video and the Fembots from "Austin Powers." Accompanied by electronica composer Conrad Kaneshiro's music, the four did ballet spins and kicks to the robotic beats. There was an undeniable dynamism to the piece, with its Bolshoi-meets-Logan's Run feel. The dancers maintained a cool, intense tone throughout the piece, and the composition was edgy without being abrasive. The icy frisson generated heat. As a choreographer, Eryc Taylor is undeniably brilliant, and his piece made a perfect ending to the festival.
Julian Wise, a teaching assistant at the Oak Bluffs School, is a frequent contributor to The Times, specializing in music, film, and performing arts.
|
