My Eiko journal: Part 3

Eiko's A Body in Places
Saturday, March 5 -- 7-10pm

It was disconcerting to see Eiko with a bandaged sprained arm--the result of a trip and fall at home. But she still danced, still valiantly surveyed, on this Saturday evening in St. Mark's Church along with invited soloists--Michelle Boulé, Beth Gill, Neil Greenberg, Koma Otake, Jimena Paz, Arturo Vidich and Geo Wyeth. Each soloist took a piece of the church--Koma, on the porch in his filmy-thin costume, braving the cold night air; Greenberg commandeering one side of the balcony; Gill inchworming her way all around the sanctuary's carpeted risers--over the course of three hours.

Members of the audience, armed with a site map and schedule, curated their individual experiences. But, clearly, everyone wanted to see everything--or as much of everything as logistics will allow. That meant trying to get over to a tiny space--say, the reportedly-haunted Priest's Room--in time to squeeze yourself in with a dozen other people as Vidich struck and vibrated church bells. His solemn performance, though simple in form, rivaled only Paz's stark, crow-like expressionism for beauty.

Overall, this evening proved to be a fragmentary experience--chaotic, impossible, a nightmare for the claustrophobic but interesting for not only dancer-watching at various angles but watcher-watching. It was funny to run into an old friend who mentioned the same phenomenon--enjoying the unusual vantage points for looking at how people look at the dancing they're looking at.

*****

Read My Eiko journal: 

Part 1
Part 2

*****

Eiko's A Body in Places platform continues at Danspace Project and other venues through March 23. There's so much going on in this platform's programming, that Danspace Project is actually offering consultation with a docent to help you get your bearings. Really. For detailed information, click here.

Danspace Project
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street (at Second Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Lance Gries brings "IF Immanent Field" to Danspace Project

Dancer-choreographer Lance Gries
Below, performing in IF Immanent Field,
his new ensemble work with
original score by Ryan Seaton and lighting by Carol Mullins
(photos courtesy of Lance Gries)

As a member of The Trisha Brown Dance Company (1985-1992),
Gries won a Bessie Award and also received a 2011 Bessie nomination
for his solo evening, Etudes for an Astronaut.

Hands float, sneak, snake, dowse, elongate, coil, swirl and fuss, always leading the way through space bristling with energy. Encircled by watchers, Lance Gries and his fellow dancers come and go. An austere, sometimes billowing Jimena Paz; a deific, stately Diane Madden; and Juliette Mapp, alternately ethereal and wry, they infuse the space with a visualized music.

Gries's IF Immanent Field, premiering at Danspace Project tomorrow evening, draws from the choreographer's belief in a common awareness, "a primary field of shared conscious energy pervades and connects all things," and that dancers readily access and utilize.

You are invited to sit and contemplate and breathe it all in.

March 20-22, Thursday-Saturday, 8PM
Arrive around 7:45pm each night for pre-show entertainment.

TICKETS

Danspace Project

131 East 10th Street (at 2nd Avenue), Manhattan
(directions)