Courtesy of Jessica Lang Dance.
It is rare for a sole choreographer to exhibit many voices, stylistic looks and to keep an audience thoroughly entertained over the course of an entire evening of works.
Yet such was the evening of Jessica Lang Dance at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center with works choreographed by Lang. Even if some of the six selections of the evening’s performance were not to your particular taste, the performance was visually stimulating and, when over, left you wanting more. This performance also incorporated numerous forms of art with its use of video, projection, fabric, stagecraft and well rounded dancers that easily interacted with the other elements and each other. Lang consistently used music in her choices of rhythm and dynamics with added a strong foundation.
The stand-out piece of the evening was the duet from the final piece, i.n.k. Using video in a dance piece can be very tricky. It usually goes in two directions: projections can override the choreography and cause the dance to become lost, even to the point of distraction; or visa-versa, projections can seem to be an afterthought, a reason to have them is just to have them and they do nothing to enhance or impact the choreography.
i.n.k. went far beyond this. The entire piece of i.n.k. was eye catching in its use of shadows, videos and the interaction between dancer and projection. The pas was superb.
With just the right blend of power in dance and power in video, the eye was guided to where it needed to be. The conversation between the two artist dancers, the intricacy of movement and on occasion, their stillness so the projection could become prominent was smooth, easy, and efficient.
As a whole, the entire i.n.k. was simple in its use of contemporary and balletic vocabulary. As the name implies, there were blobs, splashes, explosions and shapes of ink. The choreography in this piece was not the strongest and probably needed the video to complete the vision of Ms. Lang. Dancers, Clifton Brown, Julie Fiorenza, John Harnage, Eve Jacobs, Kana Kimura, Laura Mead, and Jammie Walker were authentic and humorous in their connection to shadow and to each other. Is there another dimension that is being addressed? Perhaps a question in all of Lang’s work.
Courtesy of Jessica Lang Dance.
She utilizes visual aides that blend seamlessly. In the first piece, Lines Cubed, created in 2012, Lang worked with four different colors to identify each section. Black, Red, Yellow, Blue and then a mix of colors and couples created a geometric Piet Mondrian look to the architecture of the stage and use of the body. Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen (go to their innovative website, molodesign.com) must have enjoyed seeing their product form lines that would expand and contract to define and redefine the stage space using the dancers to move in, out and under the black accordion molo pleats.
Mendelssohn/Incomplete was the only piece on the program that was simple, pure dance and gesture. Looking and reaching upward, the small group swirled and spiraled toward an unforeseen goal. Will the piece be finished? Among the Stars saw a couple bounding from cloud to cloud using fabric the length of the stage to explore the vulnerability and solitude that can develop in relationships. Was the title first? If not, perhaps the fabric represents the baggage that is carried through life - sometimes enveloping us, sometimes freeing us. As a work using pointe shoes, it would have been more etherial had the pointe shoes been less obvious.
i.n.k. Courtesy of Jessica Lang Dance.
The Calling was a performance art piece using a huge skirt that covered the stage with a lone dancer (Kana Kimura) bound by the fabric that enveloped her. As the program suggested, this solo can be done by a male or female. White - A Dance on Film was just that. A nice change of pace to see video dance as opposed to the real dancer, though the tangible dancers were missed. The double and triple exposures allowed for tempo changes and size differentiation adding a touch of whimsey to the all white over black film. The smooth and obvious transition into i.n.k. after the film was the best of the entire evening.
The South Miami-Dade Center offers a wide array of performing arts with a specialization in dance and music, as well as educational workshops, cultural events and master classes.
To find out more, visit www.smdcac.org.
