Chance, Meaning, and Fine Dancing
Split Sides & Ground Level Overlay
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center
University of Maryland, College Park
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
By
Clare Croft
copyright
© 2004 by Clare Croft
published September 13, 2004
I
came a Radiohead fan; I left a Merce Cunningham fan. The Cunningham Company’s
Washington area premiere of "Split Sides," which includes music
by Radiohead, left me feeling that the continued valorization of this
notable choreographer is not a case of conventional wisdom’s inertia.
At 83, Mr. Cunningham still creates experimental, beautiful, engaging
work. (It doesn’t hurt that his dancers are one of the best assemblages
of technicians anywhere.)
The evening began by highlighting Mr. Cunningham’s use of chance. Four people (all from the local dance community) rolled the die to decide the order of various elements of "Split Sides," which would be performed after intermission, while Mr. Cunningham himself, looking more than a little like a mustache-less Einstein behind a podium, explained the process. The die rolling determined the first section would be the “B” dance with Radiohead’s music, Catherine Yass’s décor, light plot 300 and colored costumes. The second: “A” dance with Sigur Ros’s music, Robert Heishman’s décor, light plot 200 and black and white costumes. The die-rolling performance before the performance seemed a bit overblown. The video projection of the die on the stage’s scrim and each roller pronouncing “odd” or “even” into a mike felt a bit like an overly produced bingo tournament. But, the episode made me very aware of "Split Sides" chance-based composition as I watched it later in the evening.
Mr.
Cunningham’s use of chance forces the audience to consider how we
make meaning from art and, for that matter, from life. In "Split
Sides'" first section, Radiohead’s music percolating with dissonant
sound and voices, at one point popping about in a quick staccato. As the
percussive section climaxed, a small group of dancers performed an allegro
stage left. The dance fit perfectly with the music, but I knew that a
different role of the die would have meant the same section would have
had Sigur Ros’s score behind it instead, or the dancers performing
slightly slower or faster might have put different movement in that musical
moment. Chance brought together the elements; my eyes and ears made sense
of them. I was constructing meaning from a random collision. As much as
I may preach the transformative power of art, it’s rare that a choreographer
makes me consider my world differently, but Mr. Cunningham’s "Split
Sides" did.
Beyond the mental exercises prompted by "Split Sides," the work includes dynamic movement and design elements as well, but all the elements work together in a democratic harmony, each feeding the other. Yass’s pastel décor seems three dimensional. Long chutes of almost transparent pastels on the backdrop stretch from ceiling to floor like a futuristic city of light. The black lines on the white background of James Hall’s costumes dissect the dancers’ bodies, inviting the eye to look at individual pieces. As a petite brunette woman (whose forceful precision often drew my attention) performed Wednesday’s final solo, the slight expansion of her rib cage as she breathed made the costume dance.
Having
been so drawn to "Split Sides" by Mr. Cunningham’s commissioning
of two favorite bands of mine, I was not as enthusiastic about either
as I had hoped to be. Radiohead’s music worked relatively well within
the piece. Lead singer Thom Yorke relied heavily on a monotonous droning
pronouncement of words that has appeared on many Radiohead albums, since
“Ok Computer.” The collaboration did not push the band a new
direction. As for Sigur Ros, at least one critic (unfortunately, I cannot
remember who) commented after the New York premiere that the band relied
heavily on melody, which seemed an odd fit for Mr. Cunningham. He or she
was right. Sigur Ros is one of the biggest names in avant garde rock today,
but paired with Cunningham’s choreography they sounded positively
mainstream, ready for Clear Channel radio. At the heart of "Split
Sides’s" and the evening’s other work, "Ground Level
Overlay" are the dancers.
Merce Cunningham’s work demands absolute precision and extreme technical skill. In ballet, I find an elongated attitude one of the most beautiful lines of the body, when the knee is just barely bent and the dancer almost tricks my eye to believe the joint bends not at an angle, but in a lovely curve. The Cunningham dancers repeat this illusion again and again, with long, splendid arms and undercurves and overcurves of the torso. And they match each other to exact degree. Then, they couple these gorgeous lines in their torsos and arms with tiny, sharp, fast movements with their heads, legs and feet, exhibiting extreme levels of kinesthetic intelligence. Watching the "Split Sides'" wondrous structure, I do not wonder from where they receive such knowledge. They are dancing the work of a master.
Photos, all by Tony
Dougherty:
First: Koji Mizuta, Jennifer Goggans, Daniel Roberts
Second: Jennifer Goggans
Third: Members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Originally
published:
www.danceviewtimes.com
Volume 2, No. 34
September 13, 2004
Copyright
©2004 by Clare Croft
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