On October 3rd, a fortunate bunch of New Yorkers were granted the gift of seeing contemporary composer David Lang’s music interpreted into dance at the Frank Lloyd Wright Theatre, located at the Guggeheim museum. The company that provided the dancers, Morphoses, “has its mission to revitalize dance and broaden its scope by emphasizing innovation and fostering creativity through collaboration.” (morphoses.org/aboutus.) The Works and Process Company, producing the show, collaborated with Morphoses and two very decorated young choreographers, Jessica Lang and Swedish native Pontus Lidberg. Their aim was to create two very distinct dances to accompany David Lang’s “forced march” and “the so called laws of nature”. A feat much harder than one might assume, as they shared the same space for several weeks with as little interaction as possible, to ensure complete originality in their work.
David Lang is a celebrated composer, winning the Pulitzer Prize for his work, the little match girl passion and helped cofound annual music festival Bang on a Can, which is held in downtown New York City. He sat down and explained the theory behind is music in an interview in between performances. He created a simple melody, and then used mathematical formulas to deviate from it slightly, and then continued doing so that would create a different sound each time, and it could continue this way forever.
However, the music that was heard was nothing like an opera piece that you or I are familiar with, there were no boisterous horns or crashing timpani to be heard, the opening contained several jangling chimes, in no discernible time signature to an untrained ear. Jessica Lang was first to showcase her creation, titled Lang: Music and Dance: Lang and she chose so called laws of nature to start. Lines of dancers clad in forest greens and earthy browns moved in rigid, almost unnatural ways as the music achieved a greater level of depth. The women seemed to take a dominant role until forced march played, where they were instead held aloft by the men as they trudged across the walls. The military vibe was explored, with both men and women acting aggressive and stomping around the stage rather harshly. The music and dance seemed to trail off, reaching a point where the movements became predictable and dull.
Jessica Langs dancers defy gravity. From Tonyaplank.com
Up next, Pontus Lidberg offered his fresh take on the music we just experienced. He reversed the order of the songs, choosing forced march first. The men and women played off each other very nicely, weaving a sinuous mass that moved across the stage, maintaining contact with each other constantly. They were adorned with muted silvers with vibrant colors hidden beneath, evoking images of sprites or fairies. Lidberg’s Vespertine seems to be the superior of the two, but neither of them were particularly noteworthy.
Lidbergs dancers focused on three couples. From Tonyaplank.com
Although I feel Lang and Lidberg did not explore the potential of dancing to David Lang’s music, they did fairly well working with music that did not contain a typical beat pattern or structure. Jessica Lang mentioned that she overheard her dancers counting out their own beats while she was yelling out hers. Nancy Dalva asked some hard hitting questions to illuminate the choreographers ideas behind their dances, with Pontus trying to actualize the things he was hearing, and Lang using a bit more formulaic approach. Although the show was not very spectacular, I felt very privileged to have gone to such an elite production, and the interplay between the dancers and the strange music was very interesting to behold. I would recommend seeing the show while you can.
Very good review