Beller's house of stories

Excerpt from other stories

How many times have I seen versions of other stories? I forget, but it's likely at least three now with the opening of Alexandra Beller/Dances' 10th Anniversary season last evening at Joyce SoHo. And, of course, no matter how many times other stories is seen, it will always be different according to which guest--chosen from among contemporary dance's most fascinating artists--has been tapped to catalyze the current performance.

As described by the company, the game plays out like this: "Each performance is a high stakes event featuring a pivotal, improvisational performance by a guest artist who has rehearsed minimally, if at all, with the company." Yeah, bring it.

Last night, that catalyst was Jennifer Nugent, a lithe, springy, Puckish spirit of vitality and fun. Some of her best moments came near the end of other stories, as she returned to a circle of the dancers, scattering them and, to my mind, dispersing the mystifying fog of gestures and juxtapositions, mosaics of story fragments, dream-like driftings and memories constructed through lush, sensitive choreography and Martijn Hart's beautiful filmwork.

other stories, for me, inspires unconditional love, the way one takes a good friend to heart, accepting that there will always be things about that person that cannot be fully known or comprehended. This seems to be a dance about just that--opening with Hart's videocamera focused on one corner of a lovely Flatiron District building and a couple, just behind its large windows, holding a conversation that we cannot hear. The camera zooms in close but to no avail. We will never grasp what is being said nor know its history or current context. We're left to project interpretations onto the couple's body language and gestures.

We do much of the same throughout other stories with its plethora of imagery. When we hear words, they merely fan out in the general direction of something that we can only imagine out of our own personal experiences: "This is the only place that makes me laugh," or "This is the space that will not close," or the disjointed recounting of a medical history, audibly redacted. We watch inexplicable expressions wash over the face of one or another dancer; the look is soon wiped away, replaced by another or...nothing. It feels as if we're being plunged into the life recall or dreams of not just one person but a whole tribe, simultaneously.

So, of course, it's not going to make sense. And, of course, it makes sense.

Have I mentioned that I love it?

Dancing by Beller, Lea Fulton, Toni Melaas, Kendra Porter, Edward Rice and Simon Thomas-Train plus the evening's guest artist. Original music composed and performed live by Robert Poss. Lighting by Amanda K. Ringger. Costumes by Karen Young. Set design by Brian Ireland.

See other stories at Joyce Soho through April 21. There will be also be a 10th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, April 13. For season schedule details and ticketing, click here.

Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer Street (between Houston and Prince Streets), Manhattan
(directions)

Keep an eye on CULTUREMARTists

HERE's CULTUREMART festival concludes this evening with a shared program featuring samples of two promising works-in-progress:

Shaun Irons, Lauren Petty and Mei-Yin Ng consider their multimedia performance work--Keep Your Electric Eye On Me--to be at a very early, very sketchy stage of development. I'll have to take them at their word, although KYEEOM already brings enough ominous razzle dazzle to make me wonder what radical changes, as the creative team calls them, we'll be blown away by when the final product debuts. Irons and Petty contribute the lysergic video and sound, and Ng, the enigmatic choreography and performance, in an already well thought out, well structured display that nevertheless seems to emanate from inside one damaged or very disturbed head. While I can't wait to see what this one becomes when it grows up, I'm a little scared, too.

I saw an early rehearsal of part of Alexandra Beller's other stories at the Gibney Dance Center, and that experience drew me to this CULTUREMART showcase where Beller is showing an excerpt. This interesting ensemble piece, set to premiere at Joyce SoHo in April, comes with three unique features.

The first is a video view into the window of a building in Manhattan's Flatiron District, a voyeuristic monitoring of a couple's unheard, but clearly troubled, conversation.

The second is a big white portable structure designed by Brian Ireland--a clever abstraction of a house with a simple rectangular cutout for a door and an external, embedded ladder. "Stories"--in the form of mystifying allegiances, provocations and conflicts--smoothly drift in and out of this house. (If you go, for a view into the house, where there's always something going on, avoid sitting at the extreme left end of the audience.)

The third, and most exciting, is the guest drop-in collaborator from among the royalty of New York's contemporary dance scene. Here's how Beller describes the collaborator's role:

Every show features a different guest artist...[who] works with us for 1 hour to one day, depending on the event. Their role is structured improvisation, which is then set and developed live during the course of the performance.

So, of course, for that to work, your company must be perceptive and game and, in that, Beller can thank her lucky stars. (Performers for the HERE showing, besides Beller and the guest artist, include Lea Fulton, Toni Melaas, Kendra Portier, Edward Rice, and Simon Thomas Train.)

At GDC, I saw the troupe stirred by the guesting Paul Matteson who moved clean and elegant as an angel on a mission. Last evening, the springy, lusciously flexible Luke Gutgsell gave this vanguard role a far scruffier, feral edge and seemed to rouse an uncommon animal intensity in the company at the conclusion. Alex Springer will perform tonight.

Look for this work when it comes to Joyce SoHo, April 4-21.

The final presentation of this shared program runs tonight at 8:30pm. For program information, click here for Irons/Petty/Ng and here for Beller. For general ticket and box office information, click here.

HERE
145 6th Avenue, Manhattan
(Enter on Dominick Street, one block south of Spring Street.)
(map/directions)

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