Speak, Angels
Yerba Buena Center for
the Arts, San Francisco
July 30th,
2016
The orchestral ensemble
and five vocalists took their places upstage. Out of the darkness, an eighteen-member
movement choir and six company dancers burst into the space with optimistic
energy – lifting each other high in the air, leaping in jubilant assemblés,
arms fluttering with joyful promise.
A buoyant opening to
Garrett + Moulton Productions’ Speak,
Angels, the latest full-length work created by the incomparable team of
Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton. Speak,
Angels is both stirring and uplifting; a beautiful piece with a
multi-layered narrative. It is a project that fills the stage with abundant and
varied artistic voices. A dance that shares inspired choreography performed by accomplished
practitioners. And while Speak, Angels
certainly bears similarities to the company’s previous work (thematic fibers,
structural composition and choreographic style), this new world premiere is
definitely doing its own thing.
Hope and community
flourished throughout the piece (like that shown in the first sequence), yet the
face of real challenge was also present - struggle/sorrow and assurance/care
co-existing on the stage, as they so often do in life. In Vivian Aragon and Nol
Simonse’s first pas de deux, it felt like their bodies were actually crying,
while the movement choir tenderly embraced each other in the background. This
led into a contemporary court dance for Alison Adnet, Carolina Czechowska,
Michael Galloway and Ryan Wang (who were eventually joined by Aragon and
Simonse) where fellowship and collective strength sang into the space. In
another scene, Czechowska reached through the air, searching for Galloway - he
was right in front of her but she couldn’t find him. Aragon and Simonse spent
one phrase being lofted by the movement choir. While the accompanying music was
somewhat somber, they were being encircled with love. And though the piece
slowed a little from time to time, Garrett and Moulton even managed to inject a
little humor and whimsy along the way.
The six solo dancers
(some veterans of the company, some more recent arrivals) showed great spirit
and vitality throughout the hour-plus work. And it was particularly exciting to
see real-time dialogue between these dance artists - new relationships
developing, existing partnerships deepening.
One notable difference
in Speak, Angels is that the role of
the movement choir seemed more expansive than in past iterations. Yes, they still
communicated a captivating gestural score and embodied a living physical
framework, but in addition, there were increased choreographic opportunities
for the complete ensemble, for smaller groups and for individuals. And I loved
how mid-way through the dance, the movement choir slowly traveled from one side
of the stage to the other. It was so subtle (you really didn’t notice it was
happening) yet so effective - a true homage to the mystery of changing
circumstances.
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