IMAGE: Ben Rudick |
Two men stand on a dark stage. They greet each other calmly, sharing a series of slow, intimate embraces—but the kindness doesn’t last. Before long their encounter has turned into a wrestling match, the pair twisting and writhing for the upper hand. The drumbeats in the background grow to dictate their movement–as if each undulation is commanded by the music. Just as one gains control, the scene ends.
The two men, along with 10 other members of Hofesh Schechter’s electrifying British dance company, will perform tonight at the Schnitzer as part of the White Bird Dance Series.
A graduate of both the Israeli Army and the Jerusalem Academy of Dance, Israeli-born Shechter brings an astounding level of physicality to his choreographic projects. He trained for years with the world-renowned Batsheva Dance Company (which performed in Portland in 2004) studying under Israeli surrealist Inbal Pinto and explosive European powerhouse Tero Saarinen. He moved to London in 2002 and soon began work on his own choreographic projects.
Shechter’s powerful, and at many times violent, movement—filled with stomps, kicks, and convulsions—certainly suggests a connection to his military history. Yet his material also appears to draw rhythms from a medley of sources, evoking everything from African and Brazilian dance to hip-hop at times. Such variety could make for muddled pieces; however, in his case, the diversity leads to enticing innovation.
In Uprising, the rough-and-tumble, all-male ensemble engages in a series of spars—from undulating tête-à-têtes to a massive, twitchy brawl that escalates to what seems to be a group smack-down by invisible assailants. In Your Rooms, the longer companion piece to Uprising, provides a less ferocious but no less provocative partner to the opener. The dancers appear in clips, as if in an onscreen montage, while a terse voice lectures on the nature of such intangible qualities as order, structure, tension and control. These words reverberate in the eerily isolating movement even after his voice disappears.
Shechter’s own highly percussive scores, performed live, form connective tissue between the two pieces, making for a cohesive and thrilling evening. Don’t miss it.
GO: Hofesh Shechter Company performs at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 248-4335. 7:30 pm Wednesday, Oct. 21. $20-$50. Visit ticketmaster.com or whitebird.org.
That this was a powerful piece, there is no doubt. That it could have been more meaningfully directed, there is no less doubt in my mind. While the movement is inventive, the piece was long enough for said movement/phrases to be re-invented several times, thus, rather than relying on what initially bursts forth to convey by repetition a sense of development, that we experience a transformation of the movement and the progress of its various meanings, to some endpoint. It may be that i expect some dramatic movement through the piece as a whole, and i think it was set up for that, but did not achieve the sort of progress, intellectual progress, that the mind desires, indeed for some of us, we crave it - for this was a dramatic situation, but dramatic phrases repeated is more like a chorus than a leading character - so, are we in a time of the chorus as our driving force? or do we produce leaders to guide us though our mistakes toward a new dawn, rather than another dawn, which always arrives on its own, whether we are here or not? Theatre is, and always is, a story of us in the world, dually - The moon will always come and go, but the suddenness of human active presence - this is the story of us, and this is what we learn from and form our character through - the moon will always come back, no matter how lazy we are - this could also be our story - but not a very hopeful one.
Some greater message is the duty of higher art. It is for drugs and pop culture to lull us with mere spectacle. M. Shechter is still young, and hopefully as he matures he will struggle mightily with questions greater than which movement comes after which, and rather gain more sensitivity to which meaning arises from that which comes before it, is demanded by that which comes after it - thus as an artist, an educator of the sensibilities, he may guide us along a part of the path to becoming the greater human, rather than the entertained and pacified human.
Do i fault him? Not much, only that he could be better. Would I go see this same piece again? You bet your old grey donkey i would! Would I say this is a masterpiece? Certainly not. This piece doesn’t hold a candle to great dancetheatre, but is instead up there with Cirque du Soleil, et al. But with our support along the way, and our educated critique, he, and our culture, will continue to grow and mature. Lavish praise for the unripe is no praise at all. Dance is NOT merely entertainment, regardless of what you think of the Nutcracker, sweetie. Dance is a physical language of the heart, soul, mind, spirit; and the body expresses this cogently when it is arrived at this pinnacle, this poetic expression of body/mind. That dance is often pretty as well is merely a byproduct, and not the greater use of this important cultural attribute. Dance IS a language (whether you understand it yet or not), and this artist friend stuttered only a few interesting phrases but did not meaningfully extend them with heart and mind. He is certainly talented and deserves the support he receives, but he needs to continue consideration of life’s greater meaning rather than concentrating so much on the movements of life.
five stars for being young and energetic, two stars as a mature and meaningful artist -
for comparison, someone like B. Spears gets a minus 1000 in both categories -
DY©2009