Dinwiddie's "Accursed," itemized

The Accursed Items, choreographed by Andrew Dinwiddie (of Catch! fame), continues its elusive ways tonight through Saturday at Ontological-Hysteric Incubator, St. Mark's Church. This new evening-length work was created with a capable and attractive cast and features music by The Hey!, text by J. Robert Lennon, lighting by Frank DenDanto III, sets by Angrette McCloskey and costumes by Wendy Yang.

It has a strange appeal that has much to do with its origins in impossible-to-place outtakes and castoffs from the experiments of other choreographers, and the way the audience's visual and aural attention is split among multiple intriguing sources of stimulus. The source dancemakers' trash turns out to be cash, if you will, for Dinwiddie, who has a good eye and ear for the kinds of things and people that will lull us, frustrate us, irritate us and beguile us. If you think that veering between being unable to make out what a performer is saying to hearing entirely too much from one or another of them, welcome to The Accursed Items.

I most liked the warm, glowing lighting and the color-coded set/costume details: white for the opening section; later, green, then black. Without telling me a lot, these visual elements told me quite a lot. And, on the other hand, nothing seemed terribly important, and everything seemed somewhat important. The milling about of various inexplicable beings--what's up with the man on crutches?--and the happily-produced movements that looked like the equivalent of doodling are all tossed into and stirred within Dinwiddie's big stew pot of deterioration.

Worth a look. Check out the ticketing information at Ontological or call TheaterMania at 212-352-3101.

Jeff Larson: Body and Soul podcast

Jeff Larson co-curates the enormously popular Catch performance series with Andrew Dinwiddie. He’s also co-curator of Movement Research’s Spring Festival 2008. Jeff called in today to talk about Artists’ Map, his new project for Movement Research.

You can submit your address to Artists' Map by emailing Jeff at jeff.larson@mac.com.

BIO

Jeff Larson is Associate Technical Director for Theatrical Production and Adjunct Faculty for the Department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Together with Andrew Dinwiddie, he curates the Catch performance series. Jeff is also the co-founder of PHILIFOR & PHILIMOR productions. Current activities include: performing in HUGO with choreographer Chris Yon (DTW, Spring 2008); scenic design for Beth Gill's “Eleanor & Eleanor” (DTW, Fall 2008); “The Principle of Trim,” the second short video of two with longtime collaborator Zach Steel (Spring 2008); co-curating the Movement Research Spring Festival (Spring 08); and a project centered around the life of militant abolitionist John Brown (Fall 2009).

LINKS

CATCH
htpp://www.catchseries.org

MOVEMENT RESEARCH FESTIVAL
http://www.movementresearch.org

Body and Soul is the official podcast of InfiniteBody dance blog at
http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Subscribe through iTunes or at
http://magickaleva.hipcast.com/rss/bodyandsoul.xml.

(c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

This material may not be reproduced in any way, either in part or in its entirety, without the expressed written permission of Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

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