Tere O’ Connor, a nationally renowned choreographer, recently brought two of his pieces to the Grace Street Theater, courtesy of VCU’s department of dance and choreography. “Winter Belly” and “Choke” were performed by a group of talented dancers, including O’ Connor himself and one VCU alumnus, Erin Gerken.
The stage for “Winter Belly” was lined with dead trees, which added to the strange and, at times, frightening atmosphere of the piece. It began with a nerve-racking screeching sound as the lights came up on the dancers, who were standing in a circle. O’ Connor was lying in the middle, flailing in what seemed to be pain. The beat changes throughout both programs were stunningly sharp. In the first scene the dancers switched from standing still and staring blankly to scurrying about the stage in tiny steps to gliding with a partner around the stage.
A beautiful scene was when four dancers coupled up and sprawled out on the floor. Both couples performed the same movements, so the synchronization was even more stunning. They entwined and twisted around each other in one long, fluent motion and then finally separated.
Many of the jerky, robotic movements were particularly jarring. The sounds and music that accompanied them sounded like a soundtrack to a horror film and certainly helped to keep the audience on edge. But of all the strange sequences that the dancers performed, the most frightening were when they came to the front of the stage and blankly stared into the audience. One particularly frightening moment was when two of the women dancers came to the front of the stage and stared out at the audience while repeatedly tilting their heads back-and-forth.
“Choke” was a bit less convoluted than “Winter Belly.” In this piece there were fascinating dance sequences, but then there were also parts where the dancers would assume characters and walk around the stage, miming various actions and attitudes. From the very beginning, this occurred when one dancer switched from a blank, stoic face to prancing around the stage as if she was chatting with someone, pretending to stir coffee and fix her hair.
The most emotional and amazing scene of “Choke” was the final one. Three dancers were seated on the floor, drawing like children, when they began to scream silently. The dance ended with them noiselessly crying and screaming with such raw emotion that it was the only thing etched in my mind as I left the theater.
O’ Connor’s interesting use of movement and emotion through his actors and dancers was nothing less than spectacular. At times it was difficult to follow and understand thoroughly, but the scenes that did come across were absolutely breathtaking.