Photo: Kegan Marling |
Fact/SF
ODC Theater, San
Francisco
November 14th,
2014
Choreographic series,
programs and residencies are common within the contemporary dance scene. But
choreographic programs that are focused on making new work without a ton of
other requirements and parameters are actually kind of rare. JuMP, the
brainchild of Fact/SF Artistic Director Charles Slender-White and Jeanne
Pfeffer, fosters this kind of choreographic nurture, providing the necessary
infrastructure and environment for an artist to, as the title states, ‘Just
Make a Piece’. In this, JuMP’s inaugural year, Fact/SF presented a shared
program of two very different works at ODC Theater – “Stepset Shift” by Charles
Slender-White and “Open Source” by Liz Tenuto.
The cast of six entered
the stage space for “Stepset Shift” in pointe shoes and purple costumes (designed
and constructed by Melissa Castaneda), complete with the unfinished cage of a
tutu. This first image immediately (and brilliantly) set the tone for a piece
where Slender-White would examine the possibilities within a genre that is
still on an evolutionary journey. “Stepset Shift” was informed by the movements
that happen in the opening center work of any ballet class: tendus, port de
bras, temps lie. These fundamental steps establish the positions of the body
and the shifting of weight, and are a necessary foundation for the more
complicated exercises that follow. In “Stepset Shift”, Slender-White took these
steps in a different direction and utilized them as a point of discovery. His épaulement
progressed into off-center upper body motions; classical bourreés
simultaneously co-existed with contemporary combinations. “Stepset Shift” was
not a condemnation of classical dance, nor was it critical. Instead, Slender-White
was using the oeuvre in a wonderfully experimental light, and in doing so,
uncovering new physical possibilities.
Following intermission,
JuMP 2014 continued with Liz Tenuto’s “Open Source”, a contemporary performance
mosaic of delightfully weird extremes, ranging from calm to total hysteria. In
“Open Source”, the Fact/SF company dancers became a rag-tag band of purposefully
neurotic characters. Opening with a robotic unison sequence reminiscent of
old-school aerobics, it looked like a group of modern-day hipsters had found
their way back in time to the 1980s. Polar extremes were rooted within this
first choreographic sequence as moments of high energy fed into complete
relaxation. This theme continued throughout – a particularly clever iteration was
when Parker Murphy was dancing to his own soundtrack, while the five women
ignored him and broodingly sat eating at a table. And after some additional
hyper vignettes, “Open Source” closed with the ensemble huddled together in a very
affectionate, tender and intimate moment. While the conceptual framework of
extremes was very apparent in Tenuto’s piece, there was also a larger narrative
at play in “Open Source”. But at a single viewing, making a connection with
that overarching idea/story was a challenge.
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