Fly-By-Night Dance Theater presents NYC Aerial Dance Festival 2009at the JCC in Manhattan, and the title of the show not only does not lie, but brings a truth to the convergence of aerial art and dance art that is totally groundbreaking. The Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Auditorium (AKA the JCC in Manhattan) is a tiny black box with high ceilings (one reason this venue has been chosen for the show) totally packed with excited patrons waiting for the imminent aerial spectacles as the one hanging rope down center stage teases us in its blatant foreshadowing.
Starting out the show is not an aerial act, but a host. He says, in more or less words (definitely more words), "Are you ready for what you are about the see?" All of a sudden, the fourth wall has officially been broken (not typical for a concert dance show) because Mike is not saying these words in vain. He actually wants a response from the audience; the theatre's patrons look at one another quizzically. After he finally gets an answer from us (a hesitant and "feeling like we are being treated like kindergarteners" yes), he introduces the first aerial piece of the evening and walks offstage, although this is certainly not the last we have seen of this man.
three times, choreographed and performed by Kristin Geneve Young, kick starts the show to the sound of a ticking clock as she corroborates her virtuosity on the corde lisse. This piece is the epitome of a fusion of creative concept, musicality and integration of dance into tricky rope sequences. three times opens with Kristin hanging at the top of the rope in a black unitard, showing off her muscular prowess. A metronome sits ticking back and forth on a stool upstage left. Ms. Young shocks the audience when she takes a stroll with flexed feet in time with the tick-tocks around in a circle as if she is lying flat on a ticking clock on a plane perpendicular to the ground. As she swings back and forth in a knot at the bottom of the rope, created by the rope intertwined with her body, the image of a pendulum on a large grandfather clock comes alive on stage. The lights fade out as the pendulum swings back and forth. Kristin Young is an extraordinary choreographer who has brought choreographic enlightenment and a poignant movement dynamic to aerial dance.
Soon September, conceived and performed by Heather Hammond, is haunting in the way she uses mime and her imagination to create scenarios with a 2-point circus trapeze, in which the trapeze itself morphs into representations of different types of walls that exist in life. At first, Ms. Hammond uses the rectangular shape that the two ropes and the seat of the swing create as a wall mirror as she puts on make-
-up facing the audience, looking sad. Then, the trapeze becomes the wall between a clerk and customers as she performs transactions through the ropes. After working as a clerk, she pushes this multi-faceted trapeze so that it swings back and forth slowly as she tries to chase it, always one step behind. When she finally catches up to it and conquers the swing by climbing into it and swinging back and forth, we see her smile for the first time. As she soars up and downstage on the trapeze, we see all of the tension that she has built up vanish. She sits on the swing with her body hanging upside down facing the audience and gives us a beautiful display of her port de bras. Heather Hammond is a master at incorporating a story into her work that is clear and moving. She succeeds in bringing her trapeze to life, it representing work, play and self-perception.
Sara Joel floors me with her piece that seems to have been dedicated to the baby in her belly. That's right! Sara Joel is beautiful and pregnant all the while giving her baby the time of her/his life as this graceful aerial artist performs a self-choreographed piece called Surface. She starts out in a transparent plexi-glass half sphere that she is balled up inside like a baby in a womb. The music, LaBarcheta and Neoclassical Moods, complements her dedication to her baby with soft, lullaby-esque melodies. Ms. Joel gently reaches for the various points on the rim of the sphere and drapes herself on the top and on the bottom of the structure. Her costuming, light blue pants and a light pink shirt that's tight at the bosom and falls open at the tummy) suggests that this baby could be a boy or a girl. The choice to have the shirt expose the pregnant belly is perfect in that it immediately shows the parallel between the mother's pregnant state and the plexiglass sphere representing the very uterus that is holding the child inside her own womb. In the end, Ms. Joel sits on the stage floor, looking up at the plexiglass sphere as it spins around and around. The lights fade out on this image of her looking up at the spinning sphere/womb with a longing yet loving look on her face - a mother's love.
Julie Ludwick's choreography shines. Set on the Fly By Night Dancers, Janet Alsawa, Kristin Hatleberg and Summer Tennyson Baldwin, I Can't Not brings the audience into the world of a one year old. (I Can't Not is inspired by Julie's child at the age of one.) This playful trio is colorful in their outfits and their joy. Each movement exudes a wonderment and curiosity that bonds these three adults in memories of happy childhood and is infectious to the audience. They play on the single point trapeze as if it is a jungle gym. They continue to play in this playground as they accomplish such feats a shoulder stand to reach the top bar of the trapeze and a pig pile that follows a satisfying set on the trapeze. All three sporadically toss pieces of the brightly colored clothes around, watch the soaring brightly colored material mimic their own playful dancing. At times, the clothes fall draped on one another, including on appendages that spin around on the swing creating a baby mobile effect. The lights fade out on all three dancer-aerialists as they strike a pose on the trapeze with all limbs pointing in different directions. As it spins around slowly, one catches a glimpse of what a 1 year old baby sees as it lies in its crib looking up at a colorful abstract mobile,
spinning around and around. Bravo ladies for highlighting a wide eyed and curious innocence that we get to re-live through a vivid moving portrait of childhood play.
The host continues to play his guitar and speak to the audience in a question and answer type way that continues to catch us off-guard every time that he appears in between every piece. I hear murmurs amongst the patrons that amount to, "Didn't we come to see dancers and aerialist tonight?" The general consensus is that more than 10% of the show being taken up by this man's entertainment is a little bit much. He croons his original songs and tells us stories such as the time he went to Vegas and rode on a Gravitron type machine, in which he felt like he was flying. He actually gets down on the ground awkwardly with the mic in one hand showing us the exact position that he was in on this Vegas ride. I see, in my periphery, people covering their faces wondering if this is supposed to be a joke or not. The point of this demonstration is to start an audience-host interactive conversation about whether or not anyone has ever felt like they were flying. One man hesitantly talks about his time parasailing after a long awkward silence. When he finally introduces the opening piece after intermission, the curtain gets stuck, and as we sit there in the darkness, we hear over the speaker system, "Is anyone afraid of the dark...I can tell you another story.." Just before he starts telling us ghost stories, the curtain opens much to the relief of the audience.
Anna Vigeland wins the award for getting the highest in the air and performing breathtaking feats such as accelerating faster and faster in a spin not too different from that of an ice-skater. In Malra, the cloudswing rope that she works with is unique in that both ends are tethered to the ceiling, allowing her to wrap herself up in it and also lay in it like a hammock. Anna's intense gaze completes every line, and her beauty shines against her simple costuming of black shorts and tank top. Bravo for bringing simplicity to such heights!
De Anima uniquely uses a tall, pewter-esque rectanglar trapeze as the flying device. Deena Marcum Frank and Aimee Hancock, as choreographers and as performers, conceptualize creating a living, moving picture inside the metal frame. Their dark gray, romantic dresses and the ethereal music, Miracle, Mystery and Authority by Jòhann Jòhannsson, create a somber picture of a relationship as they reach for one another in between impressive positions and seamlessly partner inside and outside the trapeze picture frame.
Nathan Dryden is the incarnation of meditation in Reach. Flaunting his bare white torso and bald head, he swings back and forth on a trapeze with intense driving concentration. The tattoo on his upper back is a beacon of energy as his expressive upper back flaunts this circular design. Although deep concentration is evident, his whole body is in the deepest form of relaxation. This is the ultimate achievement as an artist: total control and strength unbridled from any tension or extreme effort. Well done Mr. Dryden for this effortless performance with a creative, meditative take on aerial/dance choreography.
Much to everyone's surprise, after everyone bows the host does not come back out before the audience to get another couple of words in or sing us another song. It is understandable that the show needs some kind of filler as the rigging is being set up behind the curtain, but this host's shtick is a little extreme in the length of the songs and the constant prodding of the audience. Host aside, Fly By Night is a stunning spectacle of aerialists. This evening's program has proven that aerial dance is alive and living in New York City, and that the creative concepts that are born upon integration of flying and dance are limitless.
All Photos Courtesy of Fred Hatt
Official Dance Review by Adrienne Jean Fisher
www.adriennejeanfisher.com
Performance: Fly-by-Night Dance Theater Presents: The NYC Aerial Dance Festival 2009
Choreographer: Julie Ludwick, Sara Joel, Jordann Baker, Heather Hammond, Kristin Geneve Young, MOTH Aerial Dance, Deena Frank, Aimee Hancock, Nathan Dryden, Anna Vigeland
Venue: The JCC in Manhattan Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Auditorium
Performance Date: Saturday May 9th, 2009 8:30 PM
Click Here To Become a Member of iDANZ Today!
iDANZ - The Social Network Where Dancers Live!
Comments