Photo: Steven Gelberg |
presented by Dance Up
Close/East Bay & Right Brain Performancelab
Shawl-Anderson Dance
Center, Berkeley
June 29th,
2014
The last days of June
saw the return of Right Brain Performancelab’s dance theater/performance installation
“What Stays”, co-produced with Dance Up Close/East Bay. A mobile, multi-disciplined
art piece directed by Jennifer Gwirtz, “What Stays” features a powerful
combination of music, soundscore, text, dance and mask. This most recent
iteration inhabited the entire Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, utilizing the
porch, vestibule, staircase, two downstairs studios, two upstairs studios,
dressing rooms and even the roof. As the audience was ushered from space to
space, a deliciously wacky set of interactions transpired. The key narrative of
home underscored the entire work, yet each vignette approached the notion from
a unique perspective.
Prior to entering the
building, the audience was greeted with a short prelude on the front porch. Two
dancers, accompanied by a cellist, set the mood with spinning and cycling
circular motifs. In the lobby, a clever and brainy solo scene took on the topic
of journeying while a virtual contribution spoke of corporeal presence and
hospitality. Attention then turned to the staircase where three dancers
explored the complexity of their changeable landscape. They clung to the edges
- walls, banisters – while searching for answers through listening, touch and
sight.
Our next station was the
first of two studios on the ground floor where a single dancer examined the
possibilities of choreographic style and genre. Through a combination of
ballet, modern and even a little ballroom, she posed the question – which felt
right? Back at the front desk, exaggerated gestures, goggle-wearing performers and
intense absurdity brought a hint of Butoh to the table. Onto the second
downstairs studio setting, which opened with a long, impressive monologue,
peppered with songs. Then, a dancer entered through the side door of the
studio, masked, wearing angel wings. Accompanied by a sound mosaic (cello,
other instrumental noises, recorded music and vocals), she performed a series
of slow, defined movements that also clearly took inspiration from the Butoh
tradition. Following this excerpt, the hospitality theme returned with an
interactive, participatory tea ceremony. This shared experience culminated with
the cast drinking their tea while performing classical ballet barre exercises.
Quickly, composure and control gave way to some humorous and unpredictable
shenanigans. Our last two stops for “What Stays” were the upstairs studios. The
first had some of the most beautiful modern dancing of the ninety-minute work,
and the second, a concluding sentiment as the numerous disciplines re-emerged
to close the piece.
“What Stays” did a great
job of delving into its chosen narrative with a variety of scope and
perspective. And even with the number of times the audience was moved to a new
location, the flow was never once interrupted. The only issues were compositional
in nature. First, the piece is subtitled as ‘a performance in three acts about
home and time passing’. The latter part of the statement, the narrative
foundation, was super clear, but the presence of three acts was not. “What
Stays” seemed more like a single stream of consciousness rather than a
triptych. Second was the ordering of the installation or more specifically,
which scene concluded the work. It wasn’t that “What Stays” was too long, not
at all. But the tea ceremony scene absolutely felt like it should have been the
finale. While the last two segments had their own artistic merit, in the
context of the overall piece, they felt like an extra, unnecessary coda, tacked
onto the perfect cadence that had already been resolved.
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