“Constants &
Variables”
Dance Mission Theater,
San Francisco
Oct 2nd, 2016
Consider ‘constants’ and
‘variables’ through a mathematical and algebraic lens - terms in an equation, fixed/consistent
versus changeable/unknown. Twisted Oak Dance Theater has chosen this apt title (“Constants
& Variables”) for the company’s annual curated program at Dance Mission
Theater. Each year, Director Colin Epstein assembles a new performing arts
salon, a shared concert with returning mainstay constants and newer variables
alike. For the fifth anniversary edition of this program, which ran this past
weekend, Epstein invited a cohort of alumni from past years - Mid to West Dance
Company, One Thought Theater, Twisted Oak Dance Theater, Ninja Hoops, Heather
Arnett and 13th Floor. In addition, ka·nei·see | collective joined
Friday’s performance, previewing their full-length work Readymade, which will have its premiere next weekend also at Dance
Mission Theater.
Opening the program was
Mid to West Dance Company’s Faces and
People, an ensemble work for six dancers choreographed by Sarah JG
Chenoweth, Rebecca Chun and Mo Miner. A joyful expression of fluidity and
connectedness overwhelmed the stage from the first entrance to the blackout –
bodies moving through space, carving out the space and creating shapes within
the space. Whether staccato or legato, in unison or cannoned timing, partnered
or individual, each movement flowed deliciously into the next. Hands sliced
through the air, upper bodies swung forward in rebounding curves, hips
undulated, legs battemented in second position, arms swept like birds’ wings. Lush
physicality, phrasal connectivity, forward motion and delightful performances –
a beautiful start to 2016’s “Constants & Variables”.
Twisted Oak Dance Theater
brought Epstein’s Untangled, an
interdisciplinary mix of dance, text and scenework set in an abstracted
theatrical container. Characters from different realms came together - three muse-like
orchestrators, a devilish imp and a human - in a game of control that
ultimately became a parable of choice and structure. And peppered throughout
the program were three comical interludes by One Thought Theater on the meaning
of art, one of which called on the audience for participation.
Two apparatus offerings
were up next. First, Ninja Interrupta
by Ninja Hoops’ Zach Fischer and Marria Grace – a super fun and playful
combination of martial arts, acrobatic choreography, juggling, humor and of
course, hoops. One might assume that Heather Arnett’s Saving Seats was a solo but it was in fact a quintet, a cast of one
dancer (Arnett) and four chairs, one of which was attached to Arnett’s back
throughout the entire piece. An innovative approach to the relationship between
movement, props and set pieces, Saving
Seats found the soloist ‘partnering’ with all of the chairs – I definitely look
forward to seeing more of Arnett’s work in the future.
13th Floor
closed the 2016 “Constants & Variables” program with The End of the Story, a multi-genre physical theater composition
with cleverly tangled plot points and purposeful quirky melodrama. Narratives
of interruption, unexpected turns of events and porous portals between life and
death were explored through a narrator and two couples. Choreographically, a recurring
waltzy sequence acted as a break in the action, injecting some winsome charm. And
the group dance at the end was a hilarious physical mash-up; an farcical
vaudevillian take on everything from contemporary dance to pas de deux
partnering to 1970s jazz pas de boureés.
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