Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects

by Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Jody Oberfelder is one of dance’s irrepressible forces–elfin in physique yet strong and secure, bursting with energy and humor. Her background in athletics informs her choreography, which pours forth as if from a gurgling font of endless supply. Charming and robustly vital dancers Luke Gutgsell, Elise Knudson, Rebekah Morin, Brandin Steffensen and Carlton Ward have the ability to do amazing things with their bodies while infusing every interaction with radiant humanity. Two new dances, premiered at the intimate Flea Theater in Tribeca and running through Sunday afternoon, show them at their best, although the first works far better.

In Heavy Light, made in collaboration with the dancers, Oberfelder sees what can be done with the daily news. As it opens, she’s engulfed in a mound of crumpled newspaper pages but somehow manages to whip up into some pretty nifty, twisty headstands in the middle of this mess. As we listen to the spare, dreary Bach Cello Suite #5, she continues on, scrambling and slithering through the newsprint. Later, her ensemble enters, scattering the paper to the sidelines to open room for dancing.

And what dancing it is: big, bouncy, gymnastic, playing with weight and momentum with an androgynous equality of the genders and an attitude towards the body that is both demanding and witty. Body parts are independently dynamic puzzle pieces or moving toys, and so are whole bodies when meeting other bodies coming through the wry. I suppose the duet between Steffensen and Gutgsell really goes on far too long but I found it such a pleasure to watch their physically and emotionally rich interaction of these two good-looking men that, in the moment, the excessive length seemed quite right. Oberfelder tends to linger over duets and, since her dancers light them up like fireworks, why shouldn’t she?

The title might have come last in The Title Comes Last but one item still seems to be missing from this trio: a definitive ending. Unlike Heavy Light, this piece feels long, ungrounded and rushed into existence. It’s also silly and not in a good way. Oberfelder’s theme–the joy of senses–gets muddled as dancers stick out their tongues to lick themselves and others’ bodies and munch on pieces of fruit that (yuck!!!) have been all over the floor. It does have a nice opening in which Knudson, Morin and Ward turn their bodies into pretzels and then engage in a slipstream of contact where body boundaries blur, and there’s another wonderful duet (set to music by The Tango Group). It’s also great to hear the spooky-beautiful version of “Because” performed by strings-and-turntable ensemble MystiQuintet.

See Jody Oberfelder Dance Projects at The Flea Theater tonight and Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 3pm.

(c)2007 Eva Yaa Asantewaa