Fort Mason Center and
the Eyes and Ears Foundation present
San Francisco
International Arts Festival
Alyce Finwall Dance
Theater/Olga Kosterina
Fleet Room, Fort Mason
Center, San Francisco
May 31st,
2015
As May comes to a close
and June begins, dance, music, film, theater and visual artists from around the
world converge at the 2015 San Francisco International Arts Festival. Fort
Mason Center has been transformed into the ultimate performance incubator;
current creative pursuits around every corner. And each day of this three week
event brings a host of opportunities to engage with the artistic process. On
the festival’s second Sunday, one of the many dance offerings was a shared
program of contemporary choreography in Fort Mason’s Fleet Room. Alyce Finwall
Dance Theater premiered Finwall’s newest duet, RUNE, followed by Olga Kosterina in the U.S. premiere of her solo, Dilemma Part One.
Finwall’s RUNE started with a spoken word intro, a
poem by Katalyst. On the sides of the room behind the audience, dancers Ashley
Brown and Kristin Damrow recited the poem in English while standing still, and
then in Norwegian, with accompanying gestures. Next, they moved to the edge of
the performance space and repeated that same text sequence, which would also
recur in bits and pieces throughout the work. Then the dance began. A pool of
blue light washed over the stage and the dancers looked like they were swimming
through the air. Because of this striking first visual, the image of a wave
stuck with me throughout the dance’s first few sections. Finwall introduced a
number of different choreographic ideas
– calm, soothing and circular; volatile
and wild; mechanical; even pedestrian. The choreography would be one thing and
then it would suddenly become something else, and the moment of transition was
cleverly elusive. A completely fluid interweaving of the diverse phrase
material. And just like a wave, pinpointing the instant of formation or
dispersement is tricky, but the experience in the moment is both full and rich.
The mysteriousness of beginnings and endings was an ongoing theme in RUNE, both in the internal choreography
and in the overall form and structure of the dance. Near the half-way point,
the lights dimmed and the dancers exited the stage space. It seemed like the
work was over. The dancers walked back to the center and I’m pretty sure that
most of the audience (myself included) thought they were going to take their
bows. Surprisingly, the lights changed and the piece continued - a brilliant physical
caesura. Much of RUNE’s choreography
was in unison and when that unison was called for, it was generally quite good.
Though there were a few moments where the choreography’s timing had slight
deviations. It may have been purposeful; but maybe not.
Pictured: Kristin Damrow and Ashley Brown Photo: Alyce Finwall |
A dramatically-charged,
narratively-driven solo, Kosterina’s Dilemma
Part One was an epic journey of self-exploration. The piece began slowly
and methodically as Kosterina rolled and moved through a circuit of poses, all
while a band covered her eyes, like a blindfold. In this opening statement, a
fusion of gymnastics, contortion, acrobatics and contemporary dance was
present, and would continue until the dance’s final blackout. Kosterina’s initial
pathway led her to a set of black and white props that had been preplaced at
the far edge of the performance space. As she arrived at these items, they
became integrated into her choreography, facilitating new positions, new
expressions and new imagery. Much of the early movement had a very controlled,
intentional and specific nature. Until, a circular black skirt was ushered into
the mix, and a lengthy spinning segment emerged. This was my favorite chapter
in Dilemma Part One, a scene of
whirling freneticism. As Kosterina abandoned the props towards the end of the
work, a trapped demeanor took over her character, which eventually fed into a
final sequence of jumps and leaps. Clearly illustrating a desire to break away
from her reality. Kosterina is an extraordinary mover with incredible physical
range and stamina (her solo was forty-five/fifty minutes long). And Dilemma Part One contained some very intriguing
choreographic sections. Though for my personal taste, it fell a little too much
into the gymnastic/acrobatic camp.