My time at the “Fall For Dance Festival” in New York City Center is difficult to summarize or recap in a few paragraphs. The theater was beautiful, I had been in that building several times in the past for other performances. It always reminded me of a colorful Byzantine temple, with is mosaics and arches. We witnessed four performances. The Miami City Ballet, Vincent Mantsoe with “GULA”, the Trisha Brown Dance Company, and of course Dorrance Dance with “Myelination”.
The ballet performance was simply boring. I love good ballet, but when this traditional style of dance was oversimplified and modernized, it seemed as though nothing was left to marvel at. Other audience members seemed to agree, as I saw many rubbing their eyes and even dozing off. This was not the case for two performers that night.
Vincent Mantsoe and Dorrance Dance were the two performers who stood out to me most that night. Vincent I later learned, is a South African dancer who combines street dances from his childhood with tradition and contemporary dance styles. His influences come from numerous familiar places, but the end result is on of a kind and unlike anything I have seen before. He had whistle in his mouth the entire time. He flapped around like an elegant bird, making sounds and giving it a human aspect. The animal Vincent was representing seemed to thrash around wildly at times, even randomly, but we were reminded that each gesture had a purpose behind it. Every breath was choreographed. In essence this was chaos with a purpose. A low laughter from our class at seeing something so strange quickly transitioned to an impressed silence. Each muscle seemed to be under perfect control, this bird knew its future and maybe yours too.
The Dorrance Dance company with “Myelination” thoroughly impressed the entire audience. You do not have to be a dance enthusiast to appreciate what they were able to accomplish. The tap dancing was on its own incredible. The way the feet of the dancers moved at lightning speed. What brought the whole experience over the top was the lighting, choreography, and music. The boards under the feet of the dancers reacted to each tap, emitting pre programmed sounds. Dramatic lighting changes, and movement of dancers was overwhelming. My favorite parts were when Michelle Dorrance would dance a duet with one of her leading students and also when the entire group would be on at the same time, creating a rapid buildup.
Their feet were not the only part of the body moving, the arms and hips were always at play. The name of the performance, “Myelination”, was something interesting to examine as well. Myelination is the formation of the myelin sheath over our nerves for the proper functioning of our central nervous system. And I did find myself wondering how signal from the mind could work so perfectly, as to allow for this perfectly synced, rapid performance. A one hour show had been condensed into fifteen minutes. Maybe they saved the best for last.
