Last night, I attended the New York press/industry preview for Glow--a 2006 multimedia work by Melbourne, Australia's Chunky Move. Co-presented by The Kitchen (where it opens tonight, running for eight performances through Sunday) and The Joyce Theater, Glow was conceived and created by artistic director Gideon Obarzanek and Frieder Weiss, an interactive computer systems designer. The piece turns a large, white square on the floor into a backdrop for a limber soloist's gymnastic, often grotesque moves. Weiss's video tracking system becomes, in a sense, the dancer's rather aggressive partner, filling the square with rigorous patterns in gleaming white light and inky shadows that seem self-contained and alive. The whole thing runs only 30 minutes, and that's probably the right amount of time for a work that is more light show than innovative, idea-rich movement.
Performances are scheduled for tonight through Saturday at 7:30pm and 9:30pm as well as Sunday at 2pm and 3:30pm. For further information and tickets, call 212-255-5793 x 11 or click here.