Garrett +
Moulton Productions
ODC Theater,
San Francisco
November 24th,
2012
With their
newest evening-length work, Garrett + Moulton Productions have restored my
faith in avant-garde, experimental, interdisciplinary, contemporary
choreography. “Angles of
Enchantment” has all the necessary components of noteworthy modern dance: form,
structure, narrative, concept, collaboration and technique. Whimsy and humor also played an ample
role in “Angles of Enchantment”, but its use always made absolute sense. There was no ‘movement for movement’s
sake’ nor dance-making steeped in the ridiculously absurd. This was real; this is what San
Francisco modern dance should aspire to.
Photo: RJ Muna |
As the piece
began, we were introduced to the entire company (dancers Tanya Bello, Carolina
Czechowska, Tegan Schwab and Nol Simonse) through short image vignettes,
captured in different sized spotlights all over the stage. Organized as solos, duets, trios and
quartets, these were like preparatory remarks; a physical manifestation of preliminary
phrases, words and ideas. Following
this gorgeous prelude, the cast moved onto its first main group sequence,
journeying through an imaginary forest, complete with a scattered, shadowy
light pattern and fluttery, fairy-like choreographic batterie. These opening
moments set up the formal structure that would continue throughout the
seventy-minute piece: short, individual scenes that examined and spoke to the
same concept.
Narratively,
“Angles of Enchantment” was all about the path of discovery one makes using their
imagination. About a third of the
way through the dance, Simonse had a solo that was clearly about learning to
let go and forgive. Later, the
three women performed a divertissement that revealed a trio of wonderfully
hopped-up, disco-style Swan Lake cygnets.
Combining turned out pas de chats with flexed attitude relevés
illustrated the importance of experimentation – taking perhaps one of the most
famous ballet variations and flipping it one hundred and eighty degrees. Czechowska spent another entire section
in a giant tree costume with a huge headpiece and Southern Belle-style hoop
skirt. As she traveled slowly,
calmly and quietly along a diagonal line, a comment on humanity was abundantly
clear: we are more the same than we are different. Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton’s conceptual foundation
of discovery through imagination was pure, relatable, universal and consistent.
Garrett and Moulton
have a rich history of successful choreographic collaboration so it would stand
to reason that they would seek out equally brilliant design and music
collaborators. Both Audrey
Wright’s lighting design and Margaret Hatcher’s costumes were inspired. But, the music was really something else. Composer and performer Peter Whitehead
was a one-man band, who literally had a treasure chest of instruments on his
raised platform downstage right.
Combining string, percussion and voice, Whitehead was not accompanying
the dance performance. His role as
the fifth performer was apparent in the entire work, but most pointedly in the two
scenes where one of the women sat with him to learn how to play some of the
instruments (again, a reference back to the narrative).
Technically,
Bello, Czechowska, Schwab and Simonse were very well matched. They are certainly different dancers
(no cookie cutter corps here), but their performance experience and modern
dance acumen was clearly on par with each other. My only technical quibble was with the turns. Each of them had a habit of ‘winding
up’ prior to many of their turns, both in their torsos and with their
arms. It almost gives away the
turn when dancers do that. And from
a choreographic standpoint, I loved almost the whole piece, except for the long
tag at the end. About five minutes
before the final blackout, there was a return to the short choreographic
snippets in numerous pools of light.
Because “Angles of Enchantment” began this way, it would have made more sense
to end the piece there. The recapitulation
of that first idea was much stronger than the extended coda.