No
Assurance
The
Blue Theatre
January
13 and 14, 2012
Produced
by Julia Duffy-Dzubinski
The
Blue Theatre is becoming the go-to venue for dance in Austin. So it was for “No Assurance,” the
second installment in what may become a yearly anthology series of contemporary
dance. I arrived early and sat on
the first row, as I always do. The
dance space was arranged as a thrust, so there were three front rows from which
to choose. The set was minimal, as
it needs to be to accommodate the variety of movement expected from eleven
choreographers.
And
there is nothing like starting a show with a knockout blow. Amanda Leigh Oakley staged “Know Your
Limits” a trio danced partly to the song “Sail” by AWOL Nation. As with the popular song, the trio,
Oakley, Randy Leigh Turkin and Kalani Hawks, were unrelenting in the rising
intensity of their story of the suppressed agonies of highly made-up yet
frustrated women at a house party. Ironically, the performers knew their limits
and boundaries while portraying characters exploding out of theirs. “Know Your Limits” was worth the price
of admission, and it was only the first piece.
Producer
Julia Duffy-Dzubinski gave us “Nonsense” one of three or four duets in “No
Assurance.” The Duffy-Dzubinski
duet needed more weight, but it was too short, here and gone in a few
moments. Next came the exquisite
trio “Disconnect” by Cherami Steadman and performed by Mysti Jace Pride, Debbie
Barnes, and Cate Biedrycki. The
piece started with the performers entering on their backs, making insectlike
motions with their arms and fingers, and scooting like that across the
stage—waterbugs on a frolic. And
the piece was filled with innovative movement such as that. Steadman is a marvelous explorer of
concepts and images from nature, and her performers complemented her aesthetic
with disciplined and precise performances.
Errin
Delperdang brought on stage an ensemble of four dancers in an energetic and
humor-filled piece one would readily characterize as absurdist. It contained powerful movement, spoken
word and non-linear storytelling.
Delperdang is one of a group of UT-Austin fine arts graduates becoming
known for strong technique in service to the absurdist aesthetic. The dance presented here did not
disappoint, although Katherine Hodges’ presence (listed in the programme) was
sorely missed. After Intermission,
Amnih Abboteen presented the duet “remember the times.” The piece was a highly gymnastic
demonstration by two virtuoso student dancers. Unfortunately, the clanking and
tumbling of prop chairs distracted and diverted attention from their
movement. “Folks” followed
immediately, a trio from Verge Dance Company, choreography by Kristin
Nicolaisen. Again, the movement
and movement values were strong, but oddly, the piece suffered from following a
dance with similar staccato movements and musical rhythms. Toward the end, a bold and almost
unique innovation was performed.
The stage lights faded instantly to black, and in the ambient light
remaining the highly obscured figures of the dancers could be seen continuing
their unison movement without error.
The effect was surprising and satisfying. The light loss, however, was an accident, a technical
failure, and it was entirely unintentional on the part of the
choreographer.
“Driftwood”
was choreographed and performed by Katherine Hodges and Maia McCoy. The dance was a duet of steadily rising
passion between two women. It
became more and more engaging to the viewer as it went on. Rare is the dance piece that can’t be
usefully shortened, but this one could have gone on enjoyably much longer.
Next
came Randy Leigh Turkin’s piece “Hecate.”
The ensemble piece was easily the most innovative and bizarre work of
the evening. Three grotesque
characters entered the stage in black costumes, veils, and tulle drapes. Following them came a Middle Eastern
dancer, Amara, in traditional costume and a tray of lit candles on her
head. The performance became even
more stunning after the entrance sequences, powerfully addressing the fundamental
conflict between light and dark.
The
final piece (and final duet) of the evening was “Glass Scratch” by Kristen
Frankiewicz. It was performed by
Frankiewicz and Alexandre Soares, and it was a tribute to the sensuality of
sculptural bodies at rest, in movement and in flight. I remember Frankiewicz’ equally memorable piece in last
year’s No Assurance, a trio for two men and a woman (Frankiewicz), also
performed to a soundtrack of two works of Euro pop. In both dances, costume choices ran to studiowear and
gymwear. This gave the pieces
looks of studio demonstrations rather than performance-ready creations; this
year, however, Frankiewicz added
another element to the studio look.
She wore a fine jewelry necklace of shiny gold in multiple strands. Was this slight change symbolic in some
way to the sensual dance? Or was
it simply a new inflection on the costume choice? I could not resolve this question, but it added to the
intriguing qualities of the dance and will lodge it in my memory for years to
come.
“No
Assurance” part II was a triumph of dance art, full of beautiful, innovative
and skilled presentations. The
same cannot be said for the production and production values. The production effectively failed, to
the extent that the dance artists seemed exploited. Specifically, the show appeared to be produced on a
shoestring, about which it can be said that if performance-hungry and talented
artists are made to appear inept on-stage (the light outage, missed sound cues,
late show start, etc), then their careers are advanced more by performing
elsewhere or not performing at all that weekend. Ultimately the artists have to make those choices and
decisions themselves, but they rarely know at contract-signing time the level
of supportive production they are going to receive at performance time. Producers can give their well-deserving
performers a vastly better experience by spending a few hundred dollars more
for better venues, technology, better designers and better lighting and sound
operators. The lack of such
efforts allowed the No Assurance production to lapse well below the threshold
of viable dance and theatre production in the modern era.
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