dance flash @ the appeal: Rhythm & Motion -- Legwarmers not required

This past week I took a class at Rhythm & Motion to get a feel for their unique "dance workout" class, in advance of their free day of dance classes next Wednesday.

Fusing dance styles and eclectic music? A dance workout? This is gibberish, sort of like if someone said that Mayor Newsom had turned in his hair gel for pomade. Make sense, dammit! Well, to find out, I did what any hardworking dance writer does. I went and took a class.

For the entire article at the SF Appeal, go here.

dance flash @ the appeal: an interview with dv8's lloyd newson

I interviewed Lloyd Newson, the artistic director of DV8 Physical Theatre, for the San Francisco Appeal. Here's an excerpt.


What does physical theater mean? Could you give me a little more information about how it's different from other forms?

We call it physical theater instead of dance theater because it's often driven by meaning as opposed to theater or dance. And because it's highly physical as much more than just talking heads, hence physical theater seemed appropriate.

[That was a short response. Maybe I won't push on that. I mean, we went round and round and round and finally the guy agreed to call me from England, the home of Posh Spice and Harrods. But is dance not driven by meaning?]

I was reading on your website that you're moving towards more text-based work as opposed to movement-based. Is there any specific reason for that?

Well, if you try just saying in dance, "This is my sister, " it's going to take you a long time.

Hmm...[Really. I said that aloud.]

For the complete interview, go here.

"To Be Straight With You": Image of Ankur Bahl. Photo by Matt Nettheim

dance flash @ the appeal: dandelion dancetheater's MUTT

this week's dance flash.

"Often times, I'm positive I've stunted my imagination. Cases in point:
The number of non-black work shoes that I own: Three
Did I rename my cat post-SPCA adoption? Nope
Years it took me to accept brown as a full-fledged color and not just what dirt looks like: 28

Thankfully, Eric Kupers and his local company Dandelion Dancetheater infuse out-of-the-blue originality where I would only contribute a dependable yet deplorable snoozefest. A while back, Kupers caused watercooler tittering with "The Undressed Project," a series of dances performed by Dandelion Dancetheater's wide ranging dancers of all shapes, sizes, and abilities. Oh, and the costuming included nada. That's right. Modern dance and dance theater in the buff. It proved to be quite the first-date night outing..."

Doug Varone and Dancers @YBCA

Doug Varone and Dancers
At Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Presented by San Francisco Performances
Sunday, April 20, 2008, 2PM

Doug Varone and Dancers, a fixture in the New York City dance scene and modern dance departments at various New England colleges for years, graced San Francisco with its presence this past weekend. The company, plus Mr. Varone himself, skipped across the stage and back into our hearts, reminding us that dance is an everlasting feeling, even when sitting upright in a well padded chair.

The evening opened with Varone’s shining “Lux,” a visual kaleidoscope of Philip Glass’s minimalist “The Light.” The ever-introspective Eddie Taketa opened the work with soft jumps and a thoughtful look upon his face while a round, yellow moon began to rise in the background. The seven other dancers, dressed in Liz Prince’s elegant black separates, sprung out of the wings to join Taketa in this intelligent yet deceivingly simple-looking romp. They circled about in pairs, trios, and groups, continuously growing and retreating with the pulsing music until everyone burst into a glowing lit of bodies against the darkness behind.

“Home,” a dance theater duet with Natalie Desch and Varone, swayed the mood from lighthearted to downright serious and depressing. “Home” may be where the heart is, but Desch and Varone investigated some ups and mostly downs of life at home: the angst, love, passion, hate, and need. Both of the performers put their best into this performance, and their powerful presence grew as they shifted their wooden chairs from one spot to another quickly. Clack, Clack. Bang, Bang. Boom, Boom. But the mood had shifted so far from the tenderness and beauty of “Lux” that I felt it hard to become totally immersed in “Home.”

“Boats Leaving,” though, mixed the best of both worlds into one picturesque movement score. Accompanied by Arvo Pärt's “Te Deum,” a choral work with voices beautifully rising and falling, the eight dancers formed into snapshots and then elaborated on them, expressing emotions and feelings as they fluttered about or wiggled on the floor face down. Bathed in Jane Cox’s golden and then cooler side lighting, the dancers pushed forward, supporting each other as they danced in isolation or together. Taketa and Desch led the way, whether leading the group in a sharp diagonal or gesturing with an arm or head, and Netta Yerushalmy danced with a quiet intensity.

Each of Varone’s dancers displayed impressive qualities, which is a telling sign. He understands how to direct and showcase a remarkable complement of abilities within his own well-structured and developed movement, and he tells a good story through airy gestures and musical choreography to boot. Varone and his troupe aren’t scheduled to return to San Francisco anytime soon, but let’s hope they do.

"Boats Leaving" Photo © Richard Termine

Compañía Nacional de Danza @YBCA

Compañía Nacional de Danza
Presented by San Francisco Performances
Performed at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Program A
Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 8PM

San Francisco houses numerous dance companies, but we don’t have anything quite like Compañía Nacional de Danza. Led by artistic director and choreographer Nacho Duato, the company’s amazingly talented dancers hail from all over the world and what they brought to the Yerba Buena stage last night was something I’ve never experienced. The company, over two hours, explored current and historical issues through powerful contemporary dance and received a well-deserved standing ovation from a full house.

Duato has a style all of his own, stressing the strong use of canon, repetition, rhythm, and justifiable unison. His movement leans towards curves and sweeping limbs with well-placed hops, and themes range from literal to more abstract. Here on the local stage, we were treated to three of his more focused issues: castration, slavery, and drugs, all in some way or another delving into who we are as individuals and in short, how we define ourselves and identify with those around us.

“White Darkness,” Duato’s introspective look at drug use and abuse, brought the crowd to its feet. With sand dropping from above and brushing to and fro, Ana María López, Amaury Lebrun, Soojee Watman, Francisco Lorenzo, África Guzmán, Randy Castillo, Inês Pereira, and Fabrice Edelmann, dressed in reddish black, danced in pairs. They resembled the body and how it responds to drugs: quick and flighty at the onset and lethargic at the end. As the lead couple, Yolanda Martín and Dimo Kirilov swept from one end of the stage, leaping and embracing until she makes a potentially deadly decision. All the while Jaffar Chalabi’s honeycomb-like structure grew and stretched upwards in the background, and the dancers, set, and falling dust continued to morph like a quick-spinning kaleidoscope against Karl Jenkins’ “Adeimus Variations” and “String Quartet No. 2”). Joop Caboort’s lighting design came to fruition at the finale, leaving many to gasp as the beauty of sand, body, and shadow.

“Castrati” opened with eight male dancers (including Dimi Kirilov, Isaac Montllor, Clyde Archer, Joel Toledo, Fabrice Edelmann, Francisco Lorenzo, Amaury Lebrun, and Héctor Torres) dressed in long sleeveless black capes and nude cropped pants moving through Karl Jenkins’ “Palladio.” Mental images of De Beers commercials quickly flashed in my mind, but retreated. These men were as durable as diamonds, but they caressed the stage with liquid strength and agility, lifting each other in arabesque-like positions and pushing their hands up and out as if they were offering themselves to the audience and something higher. Stein Flujt, as the latest to lose his manliness, showed compassion and thoughtfulness; he moved softly yet with a deep determination. Duato’s choreography showed these men as that: men. Even when castrated, they had their brawn, and they were a force to be reckoned with.

With sweeping backdrops by Walter Nobbe, Duato’s softer, more introspective “Rassemblement” explores slavery and resistance through Toto Bissainthe’s Haitian music and song, but it didn’t have the same force that the other two did. Slavery is a touchy subject, and to have mainly white people dancing about it is, well, ironic and hard to swallow. And yet to watch these dancers portray slaves, their feelings of resistance, their attempts to reject the ways of their captors and spin what is given to them into something of their very own: that held its own unique power unto itself. The final product, performed by Ana María López, Kayoko Everhart, Yolanda Martín, África Guzmán, Francisco Lorenzo, Mathieu Rouvière, Joel Toledo, and Isaac Montllor (with cameos by Gentian Doda and Fabrice Edelmann), weaved together a dramatic display of heart and fortitude.

Nacho Duato choreographs in big, bold gestures and it’s not something that can be ignored. His fervent success has been heard around the globe, and I hope it echoes here for many years to come.

Photo courtesy of Compañía Nacional de Danza

Compañía Nacional de Danza

¡Bailamos! Nacho Duato’s Compañía Nacional de Danza to debut in San Francisco at the end of the month

Nacho Duato’s Compañía Nacional de Danza will soar in and make its San Francisco debut at the end of February. Duato studied at the Rambert School in London, Maurice Bejart’s Mudra School in Brussels, and The Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York before pursuing a professional career, dancing with the Cullberg Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater before trying his hand at choreography in 1983. Since then, he’s created renowned works for companies all across the globe, and his company, based in Madrid, Spain, is known for its strong dancers and unpretentious style, boasting 27 dancers and a well-regarded second company.

Kayoko Everhart, a dancer with the main company, trained for several years here in San Francisco and graciously agreed to answer a few questions about her formal dance training, performing career, and current experiences with CND in advance of the company's West Coast visit.


How did you get started in dance? What is your background and training?

The women in my family were very much involved with dance. My mother danced in a well-known theater/dance group in Tokyo, my aunt and cousin were competitive ballroom dancers, and my grandmother did traditional Japanese dance. Her last show was at the age of 92... I think she's about 96 now. I trained [for] nearly 10 years under Kay Englert at Washington Contemporary Ballet in Tacoma, WA. Then, in 2000 San Francisco Ballet School offered me a tuition scholarship to join the school. I had attended 2 summer programs with SF Ballet School before attending the [residency] program.


You studied at the Washington Contemporary Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, working with well-known dancers and artistic directors. How did your training prepare you for a professional career in dance?

My training at WA Contemporary Ballet gave me a strong base in classical ballet as well as in contemporary movement. Without it I wouldn't have gotten into SF Ballet School. I was given many opportunities to perform with the company while I was in San Francisco, and that definitely help to build an awareness of how everything functions in a professional company. The most valuable training I received was the time spent on stage and of course the time spent preparing for the performances.


Prior to Compañía Nacional de Danza, you danced with Tulsa Ballet and CNDII [the “second” company of CND]. What were these experiences like, and how do they differ from CND?

Tulsa Ballet is a mixed rep company, meaning they do a wide range of pieces from classical to modern. It's very interesting to have to constantly change styles. Being in CND2 was a great experience. It's a group of 14 dancers all between the ages of 17-24 from many different countries so we all had a lot of fun touring together. CND2 performs most of Nacho's older pieces, as well as choreographies by CND1 dancers, other up-and-coming choreographers, as well as pieces by the Co Artistic Director of CND2 Tony Fabre. The atmosphere in the 1st company is very different from the 2nd. The dancers are older and more experienced so there's a lot I can learn just by watching and being around them. Because there are twice as many people in the 1st company the group is not as closely knit. It did take some adjusting in the beginning.


What spurred your move to Spain and your inclination to join CNDII and, ultimately, CND?

I was given my first opportunity to dance a Nacho Duato piece (“Arenal”) while I was at Tulsa Ballet, and I quickly fell in love with the style. It's organic, and I felt very comfortable doing his movement. After some urging from a close friend, I decided to fly to Madrid for the audition. I didn't know much about the company at the time, and had never been to Spain, let alone Europe, but I knew I would be happy dancing his ballets. After being in CND2 there was no question about wanting to be in CND1.


Here in the US, companies often hire international dancers. How has your transition from American to European life progressed? And what differences or similarities have you experienced? How's your Spanish?

Naturally, I was ecstatic about joining CND2 and moving to Spain, but at the same time it was very unnerving to be in a country where I had no friends or family, and where I didn't speak the language. I started studying Spanish right away, but it took about a year to feel comfortable using the Spanish that I had learned. These days I can understand nearly everything and speak well enough to express myself. The lifestyle in Spain is comfortable and laid-back, but there are many smaller comforts that I miss about the US like all the 24hr stores and the huge number of choices at the supermarket.


What are some of your favorite works to perform? And will you be dancing any of them on tour?

While I was dancing with CND2 my favorites to perform were “Arenal,” “Na Floresta,” and “Rassemblement” (which I'll be performing on Feb 21). My current favorites with CND1 are “Herrumbre,” “White Darkness” (Feb 21), and “Por Vos Muero” (Feb 24).


Describe one of your favorite moments with CND and/or CNDII.

I was lucky enough to join CND1 in the middle of last season (Jan 2007), and my second tour with the company was to Yokohama, Japan. It's where my sister and nephew live, and it's just next to Tokyo where I was born and where my mother's family lives. My parents flew out from Tacoma, WA to see the show. I was completely nervous because it was my premiere with the 1st company, and it was the first time for all of my friends and family in Japan to see me dance, but in the end it was a great and memorable experience! I'm really thrilled that my 96-year-old grandmother got to see me perform.


With your, albeit brief, return to San Francisco, are there any places you hope to visit? Or favorite restaurants or places in the city you aim to revisit?

Most important on my agenda is to get in contact with old friends. It's been 6 years since my last visit to San Francisco, and that was only for a few days. If I have any time left after that I'll probably rediscover the city a bit.... walk around Fisherman's Wharf, Haight-Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, or Ocean Beach. Maybe I'll even ride a cable car, which I never did when I lived in San Francisco.


You can see Compañía Nacional de Danza February 20-24 (off-day on February 22), 2008 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Compañía Nacional de Danza is presented by San Francisco Performances.

Program A, February 20-21 includes:

Rassemblement - (Music Toto Bissainthe from Haitian folk songs)
Castrati - (Music Antonio Vivaldi [Nisi Dominus RV 608; Stabat Mater RV 621; Salve Regina RV 616; Concerto RV 439 “La notte”], Karl Jenkins [Palladio])
White Darkness - (Music Karl Jenkins [Adiemus Variations, String Quartet No. 2])

Both performances are at 8PM.


Program B, February 23 (8PM) and 24 (2PM) includes:

Gilded Goldbergs – US Premiere (Music: Robin Holloway)
Gnawa (Music by Hassan Hakmoun/Adam Rudolph (Gift of the Gnawa, Ma’Bud Allah)
Por Vos Muero (Music: Old Spanish music—fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Cançons de la Catalunya millenària—
El Mestre, popular music of Catalonia by La Capella Reial de Catalunya, directed by Jordi Savall; Canciones y Danzas de España; and España, Antología de la Música Española)

More information can be found at San Francisco Performances’ website, http://www.performances.org.

Photos courtesy of Compañía Nacional de Danza.

Armitage Gone! Dance, SFP @YBCA

Going, Going, Gone!
Armitage Gone! Dance
Presented by San Francisco Performances
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Saturday, October 13, 2007, 8PM

Summer is officially hidden away by San Francisco's fall-time fog, which means that dance season is finally here. With a two-day engagement hosted by San Francisco Performances at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Armitage Gone! Dance, a New York-based company led by Karole Armitage, kicked off my dance calendar this past weekend. But alas, the kick proved to be more of a poke and the anticipated bang resembled a sigh.

Armitage, who danced for Balanchine, Cunningham, and others before spending a few decades across the pond (and no, not in Oakland, but in Europe), rests on what she knows, ballet vocabulary, and her two works, Ligeti Essays and Time is the echo of an axe within a wood, display this. But pairing ballet steps and a tinge of modern dance together a ballet you do not make, Yoda might say, and this was the case last Saturday night.

Ligeti Essays, reminiscent of modern versions of Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes, "Rubies," and The Four Temperaments, featured the company with taped music and vocals by composer György Ligeti. Even with the women costumed in basic black leotards and belts and the men in ill-fitting ankle hitting black pants, tanks, and socks, the seven dancers outshined the work by far, kicking, jumping, and pirouetting with grace and power. The choreography, though, suffered immensely, never growing quite past the superficial stage of the "boy meets girl" aspect of steps and positions. The dancers looked disinterested throughout the intermingling of solos, duets, and group work, even with cool blue lights illuminating their feet and the steely silver tree randomly positioned in the background. Perhaps their thoughts were focused more on the international roller derby championships taking place across the city; it sure would have been more exciting.

Time is the echo of an axe within a wood, set to music by Béla Bartók, somewhat improved upon the first half. Strands of sparkly beads hung from the ceiling, creating a box-like effect around the stage, and the dancers were dressed in (again ill-fitting) leotards of gold, silver, and bronze. With softer lighting and more developed movement, the dancers appeared more focused, but again, the choreography left little to be desired. Moving to the beat became monotonous after awhile, and Time’s only saviors were the company’s impressive dancers: Leonides D. Arpon, Matthew Brahnam, Frances Chiaverini, Theresa Ruth Howard, William Isaac, Ryan Kelly, and Mei-Hua Wang.

This performance left me speechless, and not in a good way. Armitage has a small army of well-trained dancers at her fingertips and decades of dance and performance under her belt, but can’t seem to use them to her advantage. Perhaps she’s not meant to be a choreographer. And really, is that such a bad thing?

Photo © Richard Termine

Stephen Petronio Company, 2/9/2007

They’ve Got Kick
Stephen Petronio Company
Presented by San Francisco Performances
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
February 9, 2007 8PM

Do you ever wake up and think, “Hey, I have an urge for some New York-style modern dance today!“? Funny enough, I did so just last week, and what timing with Friday’s return of the Stephen Petronio Company (presented by San Francisco Performances at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts). This evening was a night filled with dance (SF Ballet and Reggie Wilson next door presented by YBCA), and I’m glad I was able to see the Stephen Petronio Company’s return to the city by the bay.

The program opened with what happened to be the shortest yet potentially most fulfilling work, Petronio’s 2006 “Bud Suite,” set to the intelligent music and lyrics by Rufus Wainwright. Funky, edgy, and clever, “Bud Suite” explores the poignancy of youth and the multitude of expectations throughout life without ever feeling like a downer. The dancers, partially in suits or white button downs with tattered backs and short red shorts (with tulle poofs on the rears at one point for the women), moved with incredible ease yet underlying power: Little piques here, a large grand battement originating from the pelvis there. The movement grew, yet not too big for its britches as my grandmother would say, and I enjoyed the understated yet compelling style.

“Bud Suite” acted as a prelude to “BLOOM,” also set to the music of Wainwright (utilizing lyrics from Latin Mass as well as the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickenson). While Wainwright was prerecorded, additional live accompaniment was also provided by the sweet and melodious sounds of the San Francisco Girls Chorus conducted by Susan McMane. The company’s men wore Rachel Roy’s cream/grey colored vests and shorts, and provided a more grounded contrast to the women, who were dressed in her muted blue/grey dresses resembling tulips blowing in the wind (and some “blooming“ later on into golden shimmer-like baby doll dresses). As the chorus, the music, and the dancers continued to soar, I crept to the edge of my seat, the company moving so fluidly on stage through this harmonious dance that I didn‘t want it to end.

Excerpted from Petronio‘s 1992 “Full Half Wrong, “The Rite Part,” set to Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and music by Mitchell Lager, is based on Nijinsky’s “Le sacre de printemps.” The company, adorned in sheer black bodysuits clad in fabric scraps, seemed transformed from earlier. No longer were they happy and carefree; instead, the dancers moved with steadfast purpose, some clear end in sight. Shila Tirabassi, as the woman dancing herself to death, jumped, kicked, and paused with sexual abandon, and closing the program, “The Rite Part” drove the evening home with seductive yet fierce imagery.

Photo © Stephen Petronio Company

Sankai Juku, SFP/YBC, 11/14/2006

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, these are the fairest of them all.

Sankai Juku
Kagemi: Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors
Presented by SF Performances & Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Performed at YBCA Forum
November 14, 2006

Butoh is more than dance; it incorporates theater and a feeling of meditation, which transforms one from being a passive audience member to a spiritually active one. Seeing Sankai Juku’s Kagemi: Beyond the Metaphors of Mirrors on Tuesday night, I truly felt transformed in both body and spirit. Entering Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Forum, my date and I were awestruck by the softly lit, life-size white lilies floating effortlessly onstage above a creamy white platform. In fact, I grew quite giddy trying to count them before the show, finally settling on a number roughly in the range of many several dozen or more-than-50-less-than-80. At the same time, faint music trickled in through the speakers and the glow from the flowers’ outlines created a calming pattern of dark circles on stage, transporting me to a cream-colored Japanese-influence version of Disney’s Fantasia. All this, and the official performance hadn’t even started yet.

Sankai Juku’s well-deserved return to the Bay Area (it’s been 5 years) was nothing short of magical. The seven clay-covered dancers included Ushio Amagatsu (the company’s founder and artistic director), Semimaru, Sho Takeuchi, Akihito Ichihara, Taiyo Tochiaki, Ichiro Hasegawa, and Dai Matsuoka. Beginning with a single dancer, the work ebbed and flowed like a school of fish on a journey, venturing toward a very self-satisfying yet personally enriching and transitional climax. What struck me most was the care and dedication each performer committed to and how they moved with the music and each other: lifting an arm, tilting their heads, finding a driving rhythm, walking purposefully backwards and forwards. The intricacies that we don’t normally see or pay attention to came alive in this performance, and were enhanced even more by the canopy of lilies (which were lifted high up yet not out of sigh early on in the performance), Satoru Suzuki’s warm golden lighting, Masayo Iizuka’s variations-of-white “costume realization,” and an original and varied score by Takashi Kako and Yoichiro Yoshikawa.

The company received a well-deserved standing ovation from the sold-out crowd, and San Francisco Performances and Yerba Buena should be commended for bringing such a high quality company back to San Francisco. Hopefully Sankai Juku can return for a longer run next time, proving more people the opportunity to share in their wonderfully rich and introspective style.

Photo by Sankai Juku

Batsheva Dance Company, YBC, 10/26/2006

Batsheva’s “Third” a Stormy Experience on a Cloudless Night

Batsheve Dance Company
Presented by San Francisco Performances
Performed at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Thursday, October 26, 2006

Batsheva Dance Company, one of Israel’s premier modern dance companies (and originally founded in part by Martha Graham in the late 60s), returned to San Francisco after a 2-year hiatus, and as its last visit had been hyped to oblivion, I was psyched to see the company. Not quite high school, cheerleader “P-S-Y-C-H-E-D” psyched, but still, I felt as though I was walking on clouds prior to the performance. Unfortunately, by the end of the night, these clouds had turned into patches of light fog and drizzle, yet in metaphor only. Outside the weather was warm and the sky star-filled.

The evening’s program consisted of Artistic Director Ohad Naharin’s 70-minute “Three,” which explores the three themes of beauty, nature, and existence. Technically, the company’s dancers performed admirably, with long, lean limbs, beautiful extensions, and an adept ability to grasp quick gestures with gritty realness. But while there were moments of choreographic genius, such as the 1^st solo, which incorporated spot-on timing with insightful and at times gripping movement, and for that much, the entire first movement, which combined everyday pedestrian-ness with artistic flair, much of the rest of the work looked to still be in the editing stages. However, as this work premiered early last year in Tel Aviv, I knew this not to be true, and I left feeling like someone had punched my brain in the stomach. Is this even possible?

The entire second section consisted of the company’s women dancing in unison. For the entire 18 (approx.) minutes. At a very, very dulling pace. Accompanied by the music of Brian Eno. Luckily, the dancing of Daniel Agami, Ia’ara Moses, Adi Zlatin and Gili Navot kept me awake and someone interested, but I felt transported back to grade school, where everyone danced together while following the pacing of the front dancer, and my mom would be sitting somewhere in front ready to pick out which unitard-clad dancer (the one with the curls and massively thick glasses!) was hers. Sigh, the good old days.

The third section definitely was an improvement on the second, but again, it felt static and unfinished while focusing on some amateurish moments, such as black-outs with no real purpose during a potentially promising duet. Later, when the dancers mooned the audience and provided flashes of frontal nudity (hello, pubic hair!), all I could think of was “Huh?”

On the technical side, the lighting by Avi Yona Bueno was bright and airy, complementing the white dance floor and grey block-like set frame while providing an additional “realness” to the dancers’ every movement. Bueno created lovely shadows while playing up the stark contrast between the dancers and their large space. Costumes by Rakefet Levy, though, left something to be desired. The J. Crew, tank top, polo shirt, Capri, cargo short look is fine, but not if the dancers look like they just grabbed whatever was lying on the floor that day (really, a hot pink short-sleeved turtleneck, several different muted-color tank tops, and an orange polo shirt a costume design does not make).

“Three” will most likely not get the editing or make-over it needs to transform from a body of ideas to a statement of art, but hopefully when the company next returns, it’ll provide a little more thunder and lightening to accompany the R-E-S-P-E-C-T it likely deserves.

Photo by Batsheva Dance Company

Doug Varone and Dancers @ YBCA, 4/7/2006

Varone and Company Rise to the Occasion
Doug Varone and Dancers
April 7, 2006 8PM
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

15 years in the making, and Doug Varone and Dancers have returned to San Francisco. I wasn’t here the first time, as I was in middle school and probably off at a slumber party order pizza and talking about first kisses. But last night’s performance inspired me to hopefully catch the company again before another 15 years goes by. Presented at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts by San Francisco Performances, the company of nine dancers (including Varone himself) swept in for the first night of a three-performance run featuring three West Coast premieres, all focusing somewhat steadily on relationships and couplings.

The big hit of the night proved to be Varone’s Castles. With Prokofiev’s hauntingly eerie Waltz Suite, eight dancers paired up and flew around the stage with each other in a powerful dance of match, mismatch, and rematch. I had fleeting memories of the ballroom scene in Cinderella, processional and all, with each dancer searching for his or her special someone. The duet between Eddie Taketa and Natalie Desch proved particularly moving with emphasis on the pause, the thought, before each one advanced upon the other. And not only was their reflection and care evident with each place of a hand or the curve of the back, but Varone’s choreography proved thoughtful in itself. There’s no superfluous moves, no unnecessary gestures, no extra bold lighting cues. Instead, the dancers, the dance, and the costumes and set design-- it all comes together into a statement of hope and continuation, fully seen at the end with a flurry dancing spotlighted by the warm and touching lighting design by Jane Cox and Joshua Epstein.

Varone’s Rise, choreographed in 1993 and commonly referred to as the company's signature work, opened the program. Set to John Adams’ minimalist yet moving Fearful Symmetries, the work spotlighted four distinct couples dressed in violet, purple, teal green, and red. Emphasizing freedom of movement and solid release technique, the dancers overlapped in a smart study on the flow of motion. From mile-high leaps to steady balances in arabesque and supported lifts overhead, these dancers didn’t stop; even in a “resting state,” there’s plenty of emotion and dedication in their faces, presence, and line. Time doesn’t pause, and neither does the dance, with the pace charging onward and upward with fierce determination.

The Thing of the World showed us that Varone isn’t just about large group pieces that make you lean on the edge of your seat for 28 minutes. A duet for Varone and John Beasant III, The Thing of the World focused on what happens to a relationship when things go wrong. Stressing repetition in slightly different situations, we saw that not only do things not always happen according to plan, but that many times our emotions and actions get out of control, to the point of disastrous results. While including more gesturing and posturing than full on dance phrases and not as visually stimulating as Rise or Castles, The Thing of the World is an interesting study in its own right.

Doug Varone and Dancers marries contemplative, intricate choreography with talented dancers in what might be one of the most successful modern dance performances I‘ve seen for awhile. Yet Friday’s house looked only half-full at best, so let’s hope others catch on as well. While New York City is lucky to be home to Doug Varone and Dancers, San Francisco has received a gift with these three performances, and let’s hope that they return again soon.

Photo by Phil Knott