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There's no stopping us now
Adrienne Celeste Fadjo takes charge and pushes through an impressive program of varied, vivacious dance in her Cunningham concert "Right of Way".
By QUINN BATSON
Offoffoff.com
On a steamy summer night in the Cunningham studio, Adrienne Celeste
Fadjo and her dance company gave a creditable performance in pieces
ranging from formally elegant to slapstick. The company for this
performance included twelve "grrrl" dancers and a male soloist.
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| RIGHT OF WAY | Choreography by: Adrienne Celeste Fadjo.
Dancers: Amanda Byars, Nicole Currie, Desiree Detoy, Adrienne Celeste Fadjo, Brian Feigenbaum, Jessica Ingraham, Anna Kaiser, Danette Mathsen, Heather McGinnis, DeeAnn Nelson, Kimberly Olstad, Cynthia Yang.
| | SCHEDULE | Merce Cunningham Studio
55 Bethune Street, 11th Fl
July 11-12, 2003
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"Stillmergingstill" opened the program with formal elegance, in a quiet
but strong piece charting the progression of a group enfolding a solo
dancer and isolating an original member. The magenta/purple dresses,
soft blue lighting and spare but effective music complemented six
strong and physically well-matched dancers in slow-spinning, ebbing
and flowing motion.
"Running On Time" was an odd but entertaining piece opening with what
seemed like an '80s Richard Gere/American Gigolo moment, complete
with Herb Ritts slat-shadows and a black-tie, white-shirt outfit
accompanied by '80s-sounding synth music. Then, as it became clear
that the music came from Prodigy, the piece devolved into a frenetic,
running-with-purses, dropping-and-picking-up-purses,
collision-course, Grand Central terminal cross-traffic of eight
dancers. This was a very physical piece, with floor work,
quick-knifing ballet feet, arching jumps and a movement motif of
flex-foot swinging high-kicks. At one point, the action grows dancer by dancer to become a unison line, shortly before ending as it began, with a lone Richard Gere figure.
"One _ _ _ Fits All", a solo by Brian Feigenbaum, seemed to address
insanity, with a straitjacket/overlong white dress shirt and no
initially apparent pants. Much arm-flapping and manic spinning
focused on a spot on the floor was intercepted by odd bend-overs and poses
with arms crossed at the throat eventually found resolution with a tucking in of the excess sleeves and a loosening of the collar and a theatrical,
acknowledging-the-admiring-audience gesture.
"The Joy It Brings" was all about cheesy old-music-video dancing. In
sleeveless, open-collared unicolor jumpsuits, "Joy" ran the gamut from
slow-motion breakdancing and robot/pop dancing to Rock Lobsterish
shimmydowns and two-foot spinning Flashdance turns. Enthousiastically performed by a group of six girls out for a night of dancing at the local club/bar/party, "Joy" was an upbeat crowd pleaser that stole the show.
"Two for Two" proceeded further down the road of goofy, in a slapstick
contact-improv-ish, ballet-mocking piece danced by Desiree Detoy and
Danette Mathsen, wearing opposing stripey top/red pants and red
top/stripey pants outfits and lit in bright white light with red
highlights by Kyle Shukis. Detoy's character played the "bad" student
and Mathsen's the stern teacher/older sister, accompanied by
Beethoven.
"Split Down the Middle" was Adrienne Celeste Fadjo's solo, a competent
piece with movements reminiscent of the other pieces but generally
less frantic and more spare, with the exception of overbusy hands at
the beginning. As in most of Fadjo's pieces, the structure was strong
and the transitions were relatively seamless. This piece
progressed smoothly and, after a shaky period of pairing movements to
piano notes, ended cleanly.
"Mariah: Part One" ended the night as it began, with a beautiful,
elegant piece set to Mozart, danced by eight dancers in smart beige
dresses with an inch of burgundy underdress subtly peeking and
receding at the hem, in twisting, turning, spinning, fugues of
classic and smooth movement.
As a concert, "Right of Way" was well put together, with variety,
pacing and flow that provided something for everyone.
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JULY 15, 2003
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
Reader comments on Right of Way:
hi from Matt Banas, Dec 7, 2003
Re: hi from Adrienne, Jan 22, 2004
Re: hi from brenda c, Jul 21, 2004
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