The General’s
Residence, Fort Mason, San Francisco
November 22nd,
2013
Have you ever
been to a dinner party and speculated as to what was really going through the
minds of your fellow guests? Or have you ever wondered if something unexpected
might happen in the course of the evening? If so, LEVYdance’s “Romp” is for
you. A site-specific contemporary dance event, the 2013 iteration (held at the
General’s Residence in Fort Mason) combines mobile performance, mingling and a
meal into three glorious hours. With choreography by Benjamin Levy and direction
by Scott Marlowe, “Romp” takes you behind the façade, revealing the real and the
authentic. And along the way, there are some delicious surprises, quite literally
and figuratively. “Romp” is exquisite postmodern dance with a hearty helping of
style and panache.
Guests were
encouraged to arrive early so that they could enjoy drinks and hors d’oeuvres
in the main foyer of the residence prior to the performance. From the
beginning, a chill, casual yet intimate environment was established where
friends met up, patrons chatted with the cast and the audience admired the building’s
architectural details. Once eight o’clock hit, everyone was ushered into the
first of four performance spaces that would be utilized throughout the piece. Chairs
in the large ballroom were scattered about, facing all different directions. And
once the audience was seated, the cast broke into full-out movement – a
celebratory party flash mob of sorts. Twelve dancers moved with equal parts
ease and abandon, dancing amidst and in between all the chairs. No fourth wall
or proscenium arch was welcome at this party, where the line between viewer and
performer became wonderfully porous and fuzzy. Members of the audience were
invited to dance with them, which allowed for a simultaneous re-arranging and
re-organizing of the seating into a large square perimeter. Then, the main trio
took the space, and the narrative shifted. During this long segment (performed
by LEVYdance company members Scott Marlowe, Yu Kondo Reigen and Sarah Dionne
Woods), the intensity was palpable; the dancers internally tortured. Demons
were exorcised through ample introverted and small reflexive movements; therapy
happening in real time, through physical expression. The choreography was
haunting yet beautiful; the performances, personal yet open.
Next we were
led downstairs to a barroom for a much shorter second vignette. Here, Marlowe,
Reigen and Woods dug even further into Levy’s complex narrative marrying a
sense of hesitancy, trepidation and uncertainty alongside propriety and
balance. The low ceiling in this space imposed some very real physical limits
that were both well-integrated in the choreography and well-handled by the dancers.
Ushered back upstairs into a small room right off of the main dining area, the
audience witnessed “Romp’s” third chapter. Three different dancers (who had
also appeared at the beginning of the first scene) stood on steel rolling
tables, while smoke billowed from the floor. They moved in unison with a very
purposeful and exact clarity, while an undercurrent of sanitization pulsed
beneath.
The banquet
hall served as “Romp’s” fourth and final performance space. While the audience
was seated at long banquet tables, the entire cast returned and movement,
gesture and choreography happened on the table surfaces, around the chairs and
in the middle of the room. Again, thoughts took on a physical form, coming to
life in a truly honest fashion. And, Marlowe, Reigen and Woods’ final pas de trois
centered around food, drink, community and adventure. An apropos conclusion
seeing as how all those present were about to share a meal together.
Good dinner
parties are the result of impeccable planning. But an evening goes from good to
great when ‘the real’ and ‘the authentic’ are welcomed and honored guests.
Those are the events that folks talk about years later; the ones that are
etched in memory; that which becomes fodder for amazing stories. LEVYdance’s
“Romp” is one of the greats.
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