Faculty, guest-artist choreography dazzles audiences

The sixth annual VCU Dance NOW saw a successful
run this weekend at the Grace Street Theater.

The dancers featured were mostly students and a
few alumni, while the choreography set upon them
was that of this season’s guest artists as well as of
dance faculty.

The nationally and internationally renowned guest
artists involved were: Berlin-native Heidi Weiss,
Philadelphia’s Tania Isaac, Daniel Gwirtzman from
New York, and Meisha Bosma from D.C. Filling out
the rest of the concert were the likes of associate
professors Judith Steel and Scott Putman, professor
and former dance chair Martha Curtis and current
dance chair James Frazier.

With so many different methods and styles being
taught by the visiting artists and members of the
faculty, the event promised to be a myriad of movement.

Through classes, rehearsals and introspective
research, the dancers spent the better part of seven
months learning to convey the thoughts and ideas of
their choreographers.

The intensely lighthearted Martha Curtis opened the
show with a multimedia piece titled “Muxing Hank”
that included two projection screens, a video camera
and a hand-held, trigger-operated wooden face named
“Hank.” As Curtis manipulated “Hank” both on and
off camera, the audience and the sculpture seemed
to become aware of the time lapse between the two
screens. Curtis seemed to be merely a vessel for the
confused sculpture that eventually became startled at
its own past appearance. Curtis succeeded in getting
a rise out of the crowd several times.

Formerly a member of Urban Bush Women, Tania
Isaac’s “In Search Of” was a deep and compelling
investigation that brought the best out her seven
dancers. The Afrocentric nature of the work resulted
in a movement style that was a journey in effortless
fluidity as well as intensity.

“A Poised and Delicate Balance” was Judith Steel’s
meticulous contribution to the evening. Steel explained
chaos better than anyone could through her nine dancers. Wielding glossy beams of wood, the dancers tried
fruitlessly to converge and build a single structure. What
resulted was a frantic whirlwind unable to establish
order. The piece was most fascinating but unnerving
to watch because of the fact that props were flying
everywhere while dancers ran about aimlessly. Finally
the chaos subsided and the dancers’ sublimely simple
structure was left in the spotlight for the audience to
admire.

Daniel Gwirtzman’s “Compass” featured colorful,
futuristic costumes with complementing music. His
quintet of dancers must have been incredibly fatigued
by the end of the 15-minute-long spectacle, which
included almost nothing but running for the first
portion. No sooner would a dancer disappear from
stage left than they would emerge from stage right.
Their sweat-drenched faces were quite visible at the
end of the work.

After the intermission, Scott Putman’s “On The
Shelf Of Memory In Temple Of A Compressing Heart”
featured alumnae Damion Bond, Paige Horton and
Lauren Morris and current student Erin Dalton in a
dark, depressing piece that embodied a broken heart
leading to insanity. Bond’s costumes looked like they
were stolen from an underground sewer society and
went perfectly with the mood of the piece.

James Frazier’s “The Seeds of Something More” is
a constantly evolving piece that featured nine very
different dancers. While the first musical transition
was a little awkward, the electronic music added to the fervor of the
piece and the similar-yet-contrasting costumes effectively set off the
contrasting pairings of dancers. Not to detract from the choreographer’s
abilities, the pieces up to this point had been so long and involved
that very little from Frazier’s piece stood out as unique. This also
could have been a result of seeing the piece before.

Meisha Bosma’s “For What Was” was one of the most beautiful
pieces of the evening because of its rudimentary choreography. The
piece was laden with ballet-inspired movement and was very soothing
to watch when compared to the more hard-edged works of the
evening. Set to one of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ “Bachianas Brasileiras,”
the duo of Samantha Crawford and Jessica Wright was radiant with
poise and grace.

“(In) between there and then, lies here” was Heidi Weiss’ piece
and the closer for the evening. Calling on 10 dancers, Weiss’ troupe,
which included dancers from a vast age-range, demonstrated superb
cohesion in its core work and in its smaller pairings. The piece was
accomplished solidly and was applauded well.