Rave on, dancers!

Question for choreographer Faye Driscoll:

What on earth did you do to your dancers to get them this way?

Now, hold on: That is not a hostile question.

In fact, I think it's a question a lot of envious choreographers might want to get answered, because Driscoll's effectiveness in her new piece, There is so much mad in me, is almost totally due to the blasted-open vulnerability and bravery of her nine performers.

Let's name them, right off the bat: Lindsay Clark, Lily Gold, Michael Helland, Jenny MaryTai Liu, Tony Orrico, Jacob Slominski, Adaku Utah, Jesse Zaritt and Nikki Zialcita.

These guys are astonishingly good, and each gets pushed forward in ways that bring out his or her breathtaking power.  Each one seems capable of a full course of possibilities--from delicate sparks of thought and expression flickering across their faces to full-tilt rage, and even the rage comes in 47 varieties. Doubt me on that last one, and I'll tell you to just watch one of Slominski's characters brutally intimidate his colleagues--and at least one audience member, too--and see what secrets his subsequent facial and bodily movements reveal not only about his perverse pleasure in instilling fear but also his childish petulance and repressed hysteria.

The work--charging through 75 minutes in which you never relax enough to worry about the time--is a seamless collage of intense scenarios depicting extreme, mind-pounding, mind-blowing experiences. Sounds like fun? Well, don't trust elation; it quickly turns to terror. And nobody does "quickly" like Driscoll and her crew. This rapid slippage and the ambiguity of just about everything you're seeing reach out past that so-called fourth wall and wreak havoc with your own body-mind continuum.

How do you really feel about the disturbing things you're watching? Not the funny moments--of which there are a goodly amount--but the exploitation, the oppression, the violence? You'll be sitting with that. Yes. This is one of those dances that examines you every bit as much as you examine it. I wish it wide presentation throughout America.

There is so much mad in me runs through Saturday evening with 7:30pm shows at Dance Theater Workshop. Last night's show was sold out. Best of luck. Click here for tickets to one of this season's top premieres and performances.