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Gowanus Arts Exchange
First Weekends new dance and discussion series
421 Fifth Ave. (at Eighth Street)
Park Slope, Brooklyn
(718) 832-0018
Tickets $12, $6 low-income
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"Cadence Callers" Tony Silva, Fernando Maneca and Liam
Clancy illustrate the joys of navy life.
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Meet the artist
Three "First Weekend" dance-and-chat performances that
let performers talk with audiences about the evolution of
their works -- starting with an autobiographical
piece in which our hero, a sort of dancer's Spalding Gray,
explores the choreographical question, "Why did I join the Navy?"
By DAVID BOGOSLAW
At times, it can be more satisfying to see a theater piece in the process of
becoming rather than in its final form. When that is combined with the chance
to discuss the work afterwards with its creators, the result is theater returned
to its context, the community it serves. This is one of the lures of the
Gowanus Arts Exchange's "First Weekend -- New Dance and Discussion" fall
series, which kicked off the season Oct. 1 and 2 with three short works
choreographed by Shannon Hummel, Sharon Mansur and Liam Clancy. While
only
Hummel's work was billed as a work-in-progress, all three share a sense of
expectant exploration.
Clancy's piece, "The Cadence Callers," is based on his own painful
coming-of-age experiences in the U.S. Navy, depicted to alternately hilarious
and thought-provoking effect. At half an hour the longest of the three works,
it was also the most fully imagined, transcending its dance label and emerging
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FIRST WEEKENDS |
Three dance pieces:
"The Cadence Callers" by Liam Clancy
With Fernando Maneca, Tony Silva
"Down A Small Road" by Shannon Hummel
With Vaness Adato, Pele Bauch, Donna Costello
"Lightfast" by Sharon Mansur
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as a work of total theater. Clancy is a kind of dancer's Spalding
Gray and
his loosely-structured monologues that punctuate the choreographed vignettes
were the heart of the piece. His poker-faced droll sense of humor and
endearing
honesty enchant the audience even as they grapple with his central question to
himself, "Why did I join the Navy?"
That Mr. Clancy's monologues, which he has said he patterned on Gray's
unscripted, outline style of storytelling, are so engaging in no way minimizes
his considerable talent as a dancer and choreographer. He uses authentic
military cadences ("I'm gonna be a killing man / A cutting man / The best I can
/ For Uncle Sam") and has created a winning ballet with toilet seats and scrub
brushes, set to a Spike Jones recording. The Keystone Kops live!
He is joined by two equally adept dancers, Fernando Maneca and Tony Silva (also
collaborating in the choreography), whose darkly-nuanced interrogation
tango is
one of the most provocative moments of the evening. "The Cadence Callers" was a
less personal, more broadly drawn parody and commentary on Navy life when first
presented as part of the first New York Fringe Theater Festival two years ago.
As seen at Gowanus in Brooklyn last weekend, it has found its center in the edgy
persona of Mr. Clancy's narrator.
(more) 
OCTOBER 5, 1999 • OFFOFFOFF.COM
A GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NY
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