State of Play Festival

State of Play
August 1st-4th, 2024
ODC Theater, San Francisco

Turning the calendar from July to August has much significance, often symbolizing the final weeks of summer vacation. At ODC Theater, the new month ushered in the State of Play Festival, a four-day artistic extravaganza featuring work from ten individual artists and ensembles. Co-presented by CounterPulse and curated by Chloë L. Zimberg and Maurya Kerr, this twelfth edition offered three categories: Risk-Takers, Curious Creators and Experimenters. I took in two shows from the first category – Paufve Dance’s Sisters on night one and SFDanceworks in Bryan Arias’ The Broken Glass on night two.

A world premiere ensemble piece, Artistic Director Randee Paufve’s Sisters takes its audience on a vulnerable, intimate journey.  Though we were seated for Sisters’ entire hour, the suite of vignettes (solos, duos, trios and full cast) felt like it was transporting the viewer from one space to another, each chapter conveying a different mood, quality and emotion. Narratively, the common thread sang, screamed and sobbed from the stage. As stated in the program materials, Sisters investigated “a woman’s right to choose” and the many different aspects of reproductive rights. The joy of motherhood. The medical realities and dismissals surrounding birth. The urge to be, or not be, a parent. And the loss of autonomy that women are facing today. 

Molley Levy and Madison McGain in 
Paufve's Sisters
Photo Hillary Goidell

Arms free in flight were suddenly clipped and bound. A group ritual variation felt forceful and defiant, the supported strength of kinship taking centerstage. Crawling, pleading and running motifs spoke of frustration, desperation and disbelief, while long embraces marked the comfort of togetherness. Jumping sequences mirrored the release of rage. With a percussive step touch foundation, one duet reflected the act of treading water, at least for me. The attempt to stay present and alive. And a brief Western-inspired episode posited the devolving of society into the ‘wild west.’  

Perhaps the most stunning and moving moments were found in Sisters' many picturesque tableaux. One dancer would initiate a movement, and that movement would prompt the others to physically react and respond. There was a poignant ripple effect at play. How the erosion of one right may lead to the erosion of others. How the experience of one affects the whole. What might be taken next?

At sixty minutes, I did find Sisters to be on the lengthy side, lagging a little in the middle of the dance. But there were a number of performers in the cast that moved so exquisitely that I couldn’t take my eyes off them, whether the dance felt long or not.

If I had one sentence to describe Bryan Arias’ The Broken Glass (2023), danced Friday evening by SFDanceworks, it would be this: a phenomenal piece, danced exceptionally by five extraordinary artists. That may seem like a blanket, complimentary sentence. But it’s not (and let’s be honest, I am going to say more than just that one phrase). The Broken Glass was great. It made you feel something, and that is what great art does. Your experience may not have been the same as the person next to you. You might have thought it was about one thing and a dozen other viewers may have had a dozen differing ideas. Your observations might not have been what the choreographer intended. But you felt something, and it was something profound. 

Emily Hansel (c) in Arias' The Broken Glass
Photo Valentina Reneff-Olson

As the work began, it was clear that masks were going to play a significant role. And for me, the masks, which re-appeared several times, prompted questions. What is hidden by a mask? Is it protective armor? How does it speak to loss and lone-ness? Does it provide a false or real sense of security? Over the next forty minutes, the quintet’s performance of Arias’ choreography kept those questions in my viewership lens.

The dancers’ loose, breezy, linen attire deliciously contrasted with the full throttle movement. There was suspension and release. Falling and rebounding. The mutuality of cantilevered partnering. Abandon. Charged dynamics. Outside forces exerting themselves on one’s reality. Off balance postures. Capoeira influences. 

Powerful choreographic repetition abounded. Dancers rose, and then were pushed down, or pushed away, over and over again. Bodies melted to the ground and were saved seconds before their heads hit the stage’s surface. Crumpling and catching; crumpling and catching. The repetition had that curious duality of emphasizing and anesthetizing at the same time. 

And the score – so amazing. Open cadenzas were everywhere – scalic and arpeggiated passages free of constraint, free of meter and free of dynamics – ready for the musician to unleash everything within them. The advanced press material shared this: “inspired by the rhythms of [Arias’] Puerto Rican heritage - the music of bomba and plena, boleros and other musical styles…”. That is certainly what rang through the ODC Theater space on Friday evening.