{"id":1544,"date":"2013-04-07T19:13:39","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T23:13:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/?p=1544"},"modified":"2013-04-08T13:15:27","modified_gmt":"2013-04-08T17:15:27","slug":"for-eyes-and-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/2013\/04\/for-eyes-and-ears\/","title":{"rendered":"For Eyes and Ears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Morris Dance Group. James and Martha Duffy Performance Space, Mark Morris Dance Center, Brooklyn, New York. April 3 through 14.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/a>

Mark Morris’s A Wooden Tree.<\/em> (L to R):
Amber Star Merkens, Rita Donahue, Dallas McMurray, Jenn Weddel, Aaron Loux, Michelle Yard, Maile Okamura, Mikhail Baryshnikov. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

You can\u2019t predict much about a dance by Mark Morris. There\u2019s no doubt that he responds to music and \u2014with love and respect\u2014choreographs that response into what he hears. He acknowledges with great sensitivity a composer\u2019s tempi and structures and atmosphere, but you never know what else the sounds will trigger.<\/p>\n

Antonin Dvor\u00e1k\u2019s Bagatelles for two violins, cello, and harmonium, Op. 47<\/i> (1878) inspired him to present a drab waiting room into which a woman with a clipboard intermittently walks to summon one of the six assembled people to leave the stage and come with her (The Office<\/i>). Carl Maria von Weber\u2019s Grand Duo Concertant, for clarinet and piano, Op. 48<\/i> (1814-1815) leads to his new Crosswalk<\/i>\u2019s racing traffic, collisions, and intersections by eight men and three women (the latter costumed in orange dresses that evoke traffic cones).<\/p>\n

You might guess that Morris would cast Henry Cowell\u2019s Suite for Violin and Piano<\/i> (1925) as a duet, but not that the man in Jenn and Spencer<\/i> (another world premiere) would be dressed in trousers and a dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up, while his partner and antagonist would wear a loose-fitting lavender evening gown, so long that it grazes the floor, and indulge in complications not usually embarked on in such attire.<\/p>\n

Ivor Cutler (1923-2006), the Scottish composer, singer, and humorist, wrote songs\u2014both childlike and astutely ironic\u2014that have an English-music-hall sound, but laconic lyrics that undercut climaxes right and left. As is often Morris\u2019s wont when dealing with vocal music, his choreography for A Wooden Tree<\/i> (a New York premiere) fits gestures to Cutler\u2019s words, but rarely in a completely predictable way. Were that even possible.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Office<\/em>: (L to R) Spencer Ramirez, Maile Okamura, Jenn Weddel, Dallas McMurray. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

The Office<\/i> (1994), which opens the program, is an enigma; it\u2019s full of robust dancing that stamps and twists and chains its way through the hinted-at Czech melodies and rhythms in the five sections of Dvor\u00e1k\u2019s Bagatelles<\/i>, but this little society that Morris has created is gradually shrinking. There are hard-backed chairs in the antechamber to who knows what. The people who sit on them wear unfashionable everyday clothing (by former company dancer June Omura). They don\u2019t look citified like Laurel Lynch, the doorkeeper; she\u2019s dressed in a dark, tailored suit and sensible shoes. She could be inviting people, one by one, to a job interview; or they could be waiting to be transported, re-assigned, questioned for evidence. None looks happy at leaving, but neither does anyone fight the seemingly inevitable departure; few look back.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Office<\/em>: (L to R) Maile Okamura, Dallas McMurray, Billy Smith, Laurel Lynch. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

Morris works with simple means\u2014folk-dance steps given a pleasing twist and pulled into varying patterns\u2014and he skillfully and sensitively tailors the ambiance of each section to the remaining number of people. Chelsea Lynn Acree is the first to leave, after which Dallas McMurray, Spencer Ramirez, and Billy Smith step in counterpoint to Maile Okamura and Jenn Weddel. When Smith is summoned, the remaining four form a square and energetically change places across it. At this point, the \u201cAllegretto scherzando,\u201d which has started out like the opening movement of the same name, asserts its difference. The musicians (Georgy Valtchev and Maxim Moston, violins; Andrew Janss, cello; and Colin Fowler, harmonium) suddenly seem to bear down on the melody, and the dancers\u2019 stances get wider and their shoes strike the floor more emphatically.<\/p>\n

When Weddel leaves, and Dvor\u00e1k\u2019s \u201cCanon: andante con moto\u201d starts, Okamura and McMurray form a counterpoint to Ramirez. No matter how few people are left, they always find ways to join hands and form a chain. They dance as if they never want to forget these steps, or one another. Okamura and McMurray seem happy in the final \u201cPoco allegro,\u201d but shortly before its final vigorous moments, the melody that opened the Suite <\/i>reasserts itself in a mournful guise, and, when the music ends, Okamura is sitting alone in the silence, with five empty chairs and no hand to hold.<\/p>\n

\"Maile<\/a>

Maile Okamura (L) and Amber Star Merkens in A Wooden Tree<\/em>. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

Since Ivor Cutler himself favored deerstalker hats and plaids, costumer Elizabeth Kurtzman has concocted a loony assemblage of Scottish outfits for A Wooden Tree<\/i>. For instance, while Michelle Yard and some of the other women wear solid-color cotton dresses, Okamura sports long plaid shorts, a short-sleeved white shirt, knee-high argyle socks, and a tam o\u2019shanter. Cutler sings his minimally melodic songs accompanied by a harmonium (an intriguingly subtle link with the Dvor\u00e1k score that accompanied the preceding dance).<\/p>\n

Morris finds ways to enlarge and undercut the very specific images. In \u201cRubber Toy,\u201d when Cutler\u2019s deep, slightly rough voice rhymes \u201clips\u201d with \u201cpips,\u201d Mikhail Baryshnikov (guest artist as one of the gang) opens Okamura\u2019s mouth (she\u2019s the toy), and mimes spitting seeds into it. But when these, we\u2019re told, sprout into a forest of girls, a lusty group makes a tableau of foliage. In \u201cLittle Black Buzzer,\u201d the singer complains that he\u2019s lost at the top of the world with a cold bum and a white face, trying to get a message to the outside world. Baryshnikov sits on the floor beside a chair and, with remarkable clarity, taps Morse code on its seat in counterpoint to the music, while the five women in the piece circle him, stepping jerkily in a dot-dash rhythm.<\/p>\n

\"Rita<\/a>

A Wooden Tree<\/em>: Rita Donohue and Mikhail Baryshnikov (foreground) and (L to R) Aaron Loux, Dallas McMurray, Maile Okamura, and (half hidden) Amber Star Merkens. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

Needless to say, Baryshikov immerses himself with verve in this community. His performance skills enable him both to fit in and to draw your eye. He\u2019s a virtuoso of modesty\u2014never more so when he and Weddel sit on chairs facing each other for \u201cBeautiful Cosmos\u201d to portray a long-married couple, companionably drinking tea, with little to say.<\/p>\n

A Wooden Tree<\/i> contains much interesting byplay on the sidelines, and the dancers (the cast includes Rita Donohue, Aaron Loux, and Amber Star Merkens) are as tartly and endearingly eccentric as the music.<\/p>\n

Morris pulls a little joke of his own. After the poignant chair duet, Michael Chybowski dims his excellent lighting, the audience applauds, and the cast takes a bow. Then: Music! Lights! And a finale: \u201cCockadoodledon\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jenn<\/a>

Jenn Weddel and Spencer Ramirez in Morris’s Jenn and Spencer<\/em>. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

If you listen to Cowell\u2019s Suite for Violin and Piano<\/i> after seeing Jenn and Spencer<\/i>, you may find yourself thinking of the instruments as two beings who echo each other, argue, pose questions and provide answers, and embrace in ways both calming and disruptive. That Valtchev and Fowler will make provocative and lovely music together on their instrument is, of course, a given, just as it\u2019s a given that Jenn Weddel and Spencer Ramirez\u2014who\u2019ve lent their names to the title\u2014 will reveal themselves as beautiful dancers, no matter what tensions Morris sets for them.<\/p>\n

The tensions are many; so is the attraction between these two. When they circle the stage running, they never take their eyes off each other. And they contend in stranger, more intimate ways than simply pulling their grasped hands apart or striving to push an opponent away. Once, in the opening \u201cLargo,\u201d they lie on the floor, flailing until the soles of their feet meet and scrub against one another\u2019s (the piano chords suddenly seem to be saying \u201cno, no, no\u201d). Then the two slide together, legs apart, until, for a tangled second or two, their crotches are locked as firmly as homing jigsaw-puzzle pieces.<\/p>\n

\"Jenn<\/a>

Jenn Weddel in Jenn and Spencer<\/em>. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

Throughout the duet\u2019s five sections, Ramirez and Weddel occasionally leave the arena, but never for long. They have moments alone to assert themselves.\u00a0 The couplings they create in the \u201cAndante tranquillo\u201d can seem idealized (he lies on his back, legs in the air; she lies on his upturned feet and swims in air) or crudely erotic (he lies face down; she lies on top of him; he sharply bends his knees, thrusting his lower legs ceiling-ward through the space between hers). Shortly after this, he crawls on his belly toward a downstage corner, and she accompanies him on foot\u2014stepping back and forth over him, whipping one leg around each time, the arc of her satin skirt as threatening as a storm cloud in a wind.<\/p>\n

The \u201cAndante calmato\u201d sounds anything but calm. The piano begins with a rumble of dark chords, and at first Weddel and Ramirez walk staggeringly, joltingly. In the duet\u2019s most violent moment, he bends and grabs one of her ankles while she\u2019s lying on the ground, then revolves, turning her by that leg so that she has to keep rolling; for several long, uncomfortable seconds, she looks like a snagged fish flipping at the end of a line. The final \u201cPresto\u201d ends with her smacking him. He falls. She exits.<\/p>\n

\"L<\/a>

L to R: Laurel Lynch, Noah Vinson, and Chelsea Lynn Acree in Morris’s Crosswalk<\/em>. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

Jenn and Spencer<\/i> is the dark heart of the evening. The closing piece, Crosswalk<\/i>, <\/i>announces itself from the get-go as mostly fleet, boisterous, and busy\u2014like Weber\u2019s Grand Duo Concertante<\/i>, for which Todd Palmer matches his clarinet to Fowler\u2019s expert piano playing. What can you expect from the opening image?\u00a0 Dancers face in various directions, crouched in on-your-mark positions, ready to launch themselves into dangerous terrain. The very first rush spins Lynch and knocks her to the floor.<\/p>\n

This is a crowd scene. It involves the four men we\u2019ve seen earlier in the evening, plus Samuel Black, Brian Lawson, Noah Vinson, and apprentice Benjamin Freedman. Countering or joining this octet are Acree, Lynch, and Stacy Martorana. The splendid dancers race, somersault, skip, walk in opposing directions, and vault into the air to beat their legs together. Traffic control (i.e. choreography) works very well. Pairs unfettered by gender distinctions collaborate to lift a third person, who legs drawn up, seems to be jumping a barrier (or just jumping for the pleasure of it). You think the trios may collide, but they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"(L<\/a>

Crosswalk<\/em>: (L to R) Chelsea Lynn Acree, Noah Vinson, Laurel Lynch, Spencer Ramirez, and Billy Smith. Photo: Stephanie Berger<\/p><\/div>\n

There are some odd\u00a0 vignettes. During von Weber\u2019s \u201cAndante con Moto,\u201d while some cast members pair up and stroll with the piano\u2019s chords\u2014not touching, but keeping close together, their crossed arms held out\u2014Acree and Lynch decide to grab Vinson\u00a0 and yank him in two. Then they clasp his head and stroke the backs of his legs. He turns the tables though. Suddenly the two women are close together, walking on their hands and feet, as ungainly and out of step with each other as two straggling cows being urged along (my favorite moment). Vinson\u2019s the momentary herder. Pretty soon you can\u2019t tell for sure who\u2019s controlling whom, let alone why. I think he dies.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s not too dead to sit up when he hears the final \u201cRondo:Allegro.\u201d All he needed was that green light. The leaping and rushing accelerates. Pairs form and un-form and reform. At a climactic moment, Lynch assembles the men, backs off and races toward them; she jumps, is tossed high, caught, and sent on her way. Finally someone yells \u201cGo!\u201d As if that isn\u2019t what they\u2019ve been doing all along.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Morris Dance Group. James and Martha Duffy Performance Space, Mark Morris Dance Center, Brooklyn, New York. April 3 through 14. You can\u2019t predict much about a dance by Mark Morris. There\u2019s no doubt that he responds to music and \u2014with love and respect\u2014choreographs that response into what he hears. He acknowledges with great sensitivity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[723,720,714,722,717,117,716,715,719,718,721],"class_list":{"0":"post-1544","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-contemporary-dance","8":"tag-a-wooden-tree","9":"tag-crosswalk","10":"tag-ivor-cutler","11":"tag-jenn-and-spencer","12":"tag-jenn-weddel","13":"tag-mark-morris","14":"tag-mark-morris-dance-company","15":"tag-michael-chybowski","16":"tag-mikhail-baryshnikov","17":"tag-spencer-ramirez","18":"tag-the-office","19":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}