Reviews
Currents Worth Catching
Finely etched dancing and dramatically cogent choreography lent sophistication to Saturday evening’s CrossCurrents Dance Company program at Dance Place.
The locally based troupe features 10 women, who, for the most part, come off as technically adept and intelligent performers. Company co-directors Helen Hayes and
Debra Kanter shared duties, each gravitating to where her talents were best showcased.
Hayes is one of the dance community’s best-kept secrets: an exquisite dancer who possesses strength and lyricism, polish and a sense of drama. Even a simple look back or a sharply held leg extension can carry profound meaning when executed by her. She danced in four of the evening’s six works, and Kanter, whose dances are soundly built around a dramatic structure, choreographed three pieces, including a premiere, “Crevasse,” a duet for Hayes and Walter Johnson High School senior Laura Chasen. Imbued with tension, “Crevasse” explores the tricky balancing act between its two dancers, likely a parent and child. Ever-shifting supports, uneasy, off-kilter balances, strong weight-bearing stances and arms and legs tracing jagged lines through the space lend a tempestuous quality to the finely danced work.
Also premiering was Sarah Lowing’s “Veer,” which relied more on movement quality than technique. “Veer” laid bare inner turmoil through gestures: shrugs, itches and twitches, dressing and disrobing. The music, a sung poem by Susannah McCorkle and Antonio Carlos Jobim in English and French, felt achingly wistful.
Last year’s “Precipice” by Kanter gained clarity and intent with the insertion of Hayes into the cast. A trio, the work is now a taut drama about love and loss and how it changes one’s life, forever. Hayes, the central character, attaches meaning to the simple props — a photo album and a table with a framed picture — that merely hint at a personal loss; Hayes does the rest with her direct focus. Vocal and percussive selections from Meredith Monk’s “The Book of Days” sustained the powerful idea of memories in the work.
Baltimore-based dancemaker Cathy Paine premiered a solo for long, lean Jennifer Martin. “The Next Merry-Go-Round” delivered the playful hallmarks of Paine’s work, including pedestrian runs and walks accentuated with quicksilver foot patterns. “The Reflective Surfaces, Art Versus Nature, Who Am I Anyway Blues” closed the evening on a wry personal note. Paine again appropriated simple steps, allowing the six dancers to insert their own stories and movement phrases to humorous and touching results.
The entire program was expertly lit by Cheles Rhynes, who finds interesting angles and ways to bathe the dancers in light, enriching the performance. Keira Chang’s costumes also added theatrical flair to “Crevasse,” “Precipice” and “Veer.”