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| Photo by Yi-Chun Wu | Neil Greenberg
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Floating on Waves
Neil Greenberg shows Like a Vase at DTW
By QUINN BATSON
Offoffoff.com
Like a Vase is just that. It is pretty, well shaped and a bit dry and unremarkable after it sits in one place for awhile.
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| | | NEIL GREENBERG: LIKE A VASE | Choreography by: Neil Greenberg.
Dancers: Johnni Durango, Neil Greenberg, Paige Martin, Luke Miller, Mina Nishimura, Colin Stillwell.
Music by: Zeena Parkins.
Costumes by: James Kidd.
Production stage manager: Randi Rivera.
percussion: Shayna Dunkelman.
live processing: Preshish Moments.
| | SCHEDULE | Dance Theater Workshop
November 9-13, 2010
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Live harp and by Zeena Parkins and percussion by Shayna Dunkelman, with live processing by Preshish Moments, give this vase some flavor and beauty, and the movers, especially Mina Nishimura, are lovely and soft, but ebbs and flows of light and activity eventually seem like waves on the beach lulling one to sleep, and the final ebb feels little different than earlier ones.
The point may be that there is no inherent meaning in something like a vase, or a classic column. Four of each stand onstage, vases black and columns white. There often seem to be four dancers onstage, but entrances and exits are relatively casual and have the feel of items washing up in the surf, bobbing around awhile, then disappearing unnoticed. And like items floating in water, the dancers share the space but never seem to make contact or move toward or away from each other intentionally, though they often move similarly while on the same wave.
The softness of the movement is offset well by the rigidity and stillness of the vases and columns, and it is complemented well by harp and percussion that swell from murmur to drama quickly. Still, movement that is simultaneously specific and amorphous is confusing. Is there a lack of focus or passion, or are these movers just existing in the normal oblivion of human life, floating along on a wave until something jolts them? A motif of shrugging shoulders seems to say "what difference does it make? enjoy the ride."
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NOVEMBER 20, 2010
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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