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| | Photo by Quinn Batson | | | Elliott Reiland, Chelsea Bonosky, Nicholas Bruder, Matthew Oaks, Mika Yanagihara
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Shifting, Solid, Creepy
Patricia Noworol Dance Flirts with the Fringe
By QUINN BATSON
Offoffoff.com
OK, got me. Even having seen a dress rehearsal, I couldn't tell what was real and what artificial in Circuits, the piece Patricia Noworol Dance showed at the Fringe Festival. That is the point, of course, and the result is both impressive and a bit maddening.
Circuits is two pieces in one, a theatrical exploration and a dance. Both could potentially stand on their own, though the unleavened strangeness of the theatrical would carry it into traditional Fringe fare, not really a good thing. Strong dancing and effective headmessing make this the most interesting Fringe Festival piece I've seen.
Sparse and compelling electronic music by Alva Noto give Circuits much of its energy and fit the title well. After a triple introduction by Patricia Noworol sets the tone for the mix of improvisation and confusion to come, Christina Noel Reaves begins the piece with a slow and sexy solo accompanied by annoying high-pitched beeps which progress to higher-tempo percussion without affecting Reaves. The first of numerous interview breaks follows, with Noworol "interviewing" dancers in half-spontaneous, half-scripted exchanges. These range from quite funny to quite creepy, with Nicholas Bruder's emu impersonations and zoo experiences on the funny side and Noworol training a flashlight on Chelsea Bonosky and insisting she take off her shirt while alternately complimenting and mocking her definitely on the creepy end.
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| PATRICIA NOWOROL DANCE: CIRCUITS | Choreography by: Patricia Noworol.
Dancers: Chelsea Bonosky, Nicholas Bruder, Patricia Noworol, Matthew Oaks, Christina Noel Reaves, Elliott Reiland, Mika Yanagihara.
Music by: Alva Noto.
Costumes by: Malgosia Turzanska.
Lighting design by: Simon Cleveland.
Production stage manager: Megan Madorin.
House manager: Clare Cook.
Sound: Marissa Maislen.
| | SCHEDULE | Fringe Festival
Robert Moss Theatre
August 23,25,26,28,30, 2009
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It would be easy for the interview sections to take away from or take over the dance sections, but Noworol manages to mix them effectively and give them equal weight. And the dance sections are diverse and often quite good. Dance segments range from lolling couples confronting and intertwining to manic jumps and lifts to dreamily slow and minimally lit groups to sections in which the mix of techno/electro music, '80s costumes and simple, striding movements of lines of dancers just hits, sending shivers. The dancers — Matthew Oaks, Elliott Reiland and Mika Yanagihara as well as Bruder, Bonosky and Reaves, are well matched and well suited to the piece.
In a nice twist, the theater manager whispered in Noworol's ear toward the end of the piece and Noworol proceeded to announce that they had only three minutes to finish the piece. The ensuing manic energy and pace was both exciting and slightly humorous, and only by asking after the show did it become clear that the announcement was real and not contrived to blur the lines between theater and real life, as most of the previous interviews had been.
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SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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