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Day trip
Daniel Charon's introspective "Anyone in the World" flows, engaging from beginning to end with danced dialogues.
By LORI ORTIZ
Offoffoff.com
Daniel Charon and many in his cast of sixteen danced with Lim—n Dance Company and Doug Varone; their skill and style shows those auspicious roots. His program at SoHo Joyce was inspired by relationships. Much of it takes place on the floor; with light or gentle contact, dancers sit, spin, and tumble over each other. They are mostly expressionless, thus the dances can be appreciated for their abstract, almost half hazard patterns danced with a lovely relaxed torsion. Each is complete and blends into the next with imaginative transitions and the evening flows and engages from beginning to end. The costumes are pedestrian work-a-day wear for stock trades or office politics. But in that setting, the intimate movement creates a pleasurable cozy warm atmosphere like a daydream.
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| | | ANYONE IN THE WORLD | Choreography by: Daniel Charon.
Dancers: Kathryn Alter, GuDbjšrg Halla Arnalds, John Beasant III, Megan runsvold, Julia Burrer, Lawrence Cassella, Hope Davis, Katie Diamond, Jamie Hall, Eriko Jimbo, Andre Megerdichian, Heather Mims, Erin Owen, Tamara Riewe, Roel Seeber, Colin Stilwell. .
Music by: Daniel Charon.
Production design by: Stephanie Liapis and Mindy Nelson.
Art direction by: Stephanie Liapis and Mindy Nelson.
Costumes by: Stephanie Liapis and Mindy Nelson.
Lighting design by: Jane Cox.
Related links: Official site | | SCHEDULE | Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer (btw. Houston and Prince)
Dec. 15-17, 2005
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Jane Cox's lighting design, more than the sum of its parts every time, here also works wonders in the minimal tradition. She creates interiors by projecting windows, one or more rectangles of white or red light, on the white box theater walls. Depending on the feeling of the dance, suburban office, city loft building, or summer "cottage" can be imagined.
The dances are set to original compositions by Charon and recorded by him. New-agey electronic tones flow trancelike and the music's meditative quality unifies "Anyone in the World." Sometimes water sounds take over, even thunder, and to this Tamara Rieve dances a pensive solo in front of a window. Nine women perform As We Move On Together a jazzy number to a Brubek-like passage in the score. It begins in the dark with hair and skin glistening in the minimal light. Charon manages well with this many strong dancers, using the floor and regrouping them in interesting clusters. In duets, Erin Owen's and Megan Brunsvold's effortless lifting is notable.
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| "At Dusk" is well danced but also skillfully acted, and the costumes help create the imagery. | |
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What we See, is a dance for five men. Standing like sentries facing the four directions, they change and stop in a different location. Roel Seeber rolls on the floor approaching the others who either spurn him gently or take it as an invitation to tumble. There is strong dancing by John Beasant III and also Lawrence Casella and Andre Megerdichian, who surprise with a small, abrupt upper-body flourish. The website relates the focus, "men exploring their strength and sensitivity," but I wished there were some further revelation in the dance.
In the last duet Casella and Hope Davis could be at their beach house, somewhat bored and trying to light a fire under their desire. She finally walks off leaving him alone. At Dusk is well danced but also skillfully acted, and the costumes help create the imagery.
In a delightfully original final round robin, the cast spirals in a continuous loop out through the theater aisles and back onstage. A central figure in the vortex looks a bit lost. This vague, half hazard element, moment of vulnerability, is one of Charon's charms. The 16 flock like the animals in Snow White, in a danced dream borne of the loneliness of creation.
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DECEMBER 23, 2005
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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