Are we here?

This is where we are (or take arms against a sea of troubles), a new piece by K. J. Holmes, inhabits The Chocolate Factory in such an intimate way that I would blush if that were possible for me. It is less a multidisciplinary dance as a cluster of natural forces that ooze and rub and blow and explode around the raw architecture of the space. Being natural forces, they resist containment.

Your evening starts in the Choc’s narrow, stuffy waiting area as you stand, gazing up those familar metal steps into the building’s upstairs theater. A few madly-dressed dancers slither from the door and over the brick walls. Through the open door, you can see dramatic blue lighting and more dancing deep into the space. It looks wild, like something shaken a very, very long time ago and just now revealed.

Eventually, dancers lead everyone downstairs and scatter to all points, and seemingly, all crevasses in the semi-darkness as audience members take seats on folding chairs. The smell of pine fills the air; heaps of sad little Christmas trees and their chopped-off branches and slabs and curls of bark litter the space, a forest primeval animated by yodels, the shushing slip of feet across the floor, and the spare but resonant live music. A half-naked woman slowly swims across a wall. She becomes engulfed in and stained by a projection, trapped in a stained glass image, and later buried beneath pine branches as she and Holmes intone an indecipherable chant.

More occurs in this claustrophobic space, and then we’re pointed up the stairs and lined up in tightly spaced rows against a long wall. Here, as if we’ve climbed a mountain, the dominant feeling is one of acceleration, rushing air. Bodies, music, visual projections and spoken words, according to a program note, gathered from everywhere--from Socrates to Mother Goose, from Harold Pinter to Howard Zinn--whip up and spread throughout the space, sliced from their contexts. These elements sometimes split your focus around the room, or they collide.

There’s witchy beauty, and this ambitious production should be experienced. I must admit, though, that as the hour unfolded, I started to feel like a mother sitting with an exceedingly bright, curious child who’s excited to show me more and more and more and more precious, fascinating discoveries. It left me exhausted and dazed, certain of only one thing--sometimes all the words in the world are inadequate to explain where we are and why.

Performed by a strong cast including Holmes, Jodi Bender, Keith Biesack, Marin Sander-Holzman, Kathy Westwater, Devika Wickremesinghe

With musicians Doug MacKenzie, David Moss and Charlie Rauh; lighting and projection designer Tom Ontiveros; costume design catalyst Ella Veres. Recorded text by Julie Carr.

This is where we are (or take arms against a sea of troubles) continues through Saturday evening, 8pm. For tickets, click here.

The Chocolate Factory
5-49 49th Avenue, Long Island City
(map and directions)