Layard Thompson: What sustains you?

What Sustains You Layard Thompson?

Critical Correspondence, June 15, 2010

DTW: Paper or plastic?

On Saturday night, the shared program of Kyle Abraham (of Abraham.In.Motion) and Layard Thompson drew one of the coolest audiences I've seen at Dance Theater Workshop--or anywhere--in a long time. If I could put in an order for more of the same, all around New York's dance scene, I would. But, then again, how diverse did this audience turn out to be when some of Abraham's followers left in the break before Thompson's half of the show? (Oh, well...) In any case, both of these artists made strong impressions over the course of an evening that, under normal circumstances, would have felt--and, indeed, would have been--way, way, way too long. Somehow, both of these guys pulled it off. How?

Abraham. Folks should rush to sign up to dance for him. I certainly would. With an assist from costumer Sarah Cubbage and lighting/projection designer Dan Scully, Abraham creates environments--no, havens--for the human body that show it off to startling effect. Witness his solo Brick, its multiple, moody aesthetic layers--minstrel-like stereotypes writ monumental, floating Afro wigs, black skin coated in jet-black grease paint, moody Japanese landscapes, crime-scene outline graffiti, a collaged soundscape of irresistible hip hop rhythms with highly-resistible hip hop lyrics--and the way it stuns you and suspends you in a light trance poised between avoidance and indulgence. A solo, sinuous and jarring, all of it coming at you, illogically, in waves of elegance. A haunted performance by a young yet confident performer, one who shows himself, in The Dripping Kind, his ensemble piece, to have a keen eye, serious discipline and incomprehensible originality. Whenever Abraham sets anything before you, be sure to keep track of stuff going on in the margins. He will color outside the box. I suspect we will have to reckon with this rising artist in coming years.

Thompson. The boundary-less Id that crashed the party. Propelling himself down DTW's stairs in a noisy, ruffly dress constructed from a gathering of used paper coffee cups. Thompson flopping and levitating. Chanting and burping. Shedding his shell-like dress and inner cocoon-like layers of plastic baggage. Cup...puC......K......Ohhhh, Beauty, full, vessel: Holy ritual. Wholly, a tantrum. Thompson is a child unsupervised, only sporadically self-conscious. Or, perhaps, Thompson is Mother Earth Herself, keening and flailing like a oil-soaked cormorant, wacked out and desperate to get out from under. Borderline. Some people tittered, but it's really painful (and potentially transformative) to watch with an open heart. Like Abraham, Thompson gathers collaborators who go full-tilt with him--in this case, lighting designer Chloë Z Brown and costumer Machine P.H.D. (Pixie Harlot Dazzle). The world they conjure--which is to say, our world of consumption, excess and heedless destruction--is completely mirrored in Thompson's risk-taking performance. Risky to body and damn challenging to an audience who, among other things, must witness the performer turning a spreading puddle of urine into a prop. Tempting to say that Thompson doesn't know when to stop, that Cup ranneth over numerous times and could have--should have--ended at any point along the way. But the man gave his all, and then some, and it all fit his intention. I'd call that a success.

Abraham and Thompson: Captivating mysteries

Kyle Abraham and Layard Thompson - Scrutinize the Shield, Beware the Mirror
by Claudia La Rocco, The New York Times, December 4, 2008

Kyle Abraham: Body and Soul podcast

Kyle Abraham--native of Pittsburgh and MFA graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts--has danced in the companies of Nathan Trice, Bill T. Jones, Mimi Garrard, Kevin Wynn, among others, and is now making a name for himself as an independent choreographer with promise. This week, Abraham joins Bessie winner Layard Thompson on a program of new work at Dance Theater Workshop (Wednesday-Saturday, December 3-6, 7:30pm).

Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest information at http://www.abrahaminmotion.org and http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

Kyle Abraham--native of Pittsburgh and MFA graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts--has danced in the companies of Nathan Trice, Bill T. Jones, Mimi Garrard, Kevin Wynn, among others, and is now making a name for himself as an independent choreographer with promise. This week, Abraham joins Bessie winner Layard Thompson on a program of new work at Dance Theater Workshop (Wednesday-Saturday, December 3-6, 7:30pm).

Emerging choreographer Kyle Abraham is recognized for his smooth, athletic Hip-Hop influenced style. Brick, a solo for Kyle, blends this signature style with influences from American visual artist Kara Walker and 17th century Japanese artist Hishikawa Moronobu. In The Dripping Kind, a group piece for seven dancers, Kyle explores a more dissonant, abstract movement style - a departure for the choreographer.

DTW program information and ticketing

Abraham.In.Motion

Layard Thompson: Body and Soul podcast

Bessie Award winner Layard Thompson joins me for a wide-ranging discussion of the interrelatedness of dance and watcher, art and the world in which we live. This week, Thompson will share an evening of new work with choreographer Kyle Abraham of Abraham.In.Motion at Dance Theater Workshop (Wednesday-Saturday, December 3-6, 7:30pm). My interview with Abraham will follow shortly. Program notes--http://infinitebody.blogspot.com. Guest information at http://www.dancetheaterworkshop.org. (c)2008, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

MP3 File

Program Notes: Upcoming on "Body and Soul"

Bessie Award winner Layard Thompson joins me for a wide-ranging discussion of the interrelatedness of dance and watcher, art and the world in which we live. This week, Thompson will share an evening of new work with choreographer Kyle Abraham of Abraham.In.Motion at Dance Theater Workshop (Wednesday-Saturday, December 3-6, 7:30pm). My interview with Abraham will follow shortly.

Thompson's Cup...puC......K......Ohhhh, Beauty, full, vessel: is a soul-o dance. It is a score, a channel, a vessel, and a body of work both choreographed and spontaneous. Composed with movement, vocalizations, performance meditations, and a costume and set with collaborator Machine Dazzle, Layard Thompson considers and questions the subjective nature of experience through the container of a performance at Dance Theater Workshop. Lighting brilliance by Chloë Z Brown.

DTW program information and ticketing

Layard Thompson: Prince of Cups

Collecting all Cups!
Dance Theater Workshop blog, November 13, 2008

Here's a charming opportunity to recycle and creatively contribute to an installation for Bessie Award winner, Layard Thompson!

Bessie Award winner Layard Thompson

Video interview with performance/dance artist Layard Thompson
by Marlon Barrios Solano, producer of dance-tech.net

Layard Thompson's warrior ways

Performance, if done right, is shamanism--skillfully skateboarding that sweet, demilitarized zone between worlds and tipping over either border with just the right combination of courage, childlike trust and sheer insouciance. That's why Layard Thompson--shapeshifting dancer and Deborah Hay mentee--stood head and fairy-dusted shoulders above anyone else on the Performance Mix program this week at Joyce SoHo. (Claudia La Rocco lays it out pretty clearly in her Times piece today.) Performing The Warrior--his adaptation of Hay's The Runner--looks as if he has either escaped from a ballet school or invaded one with a pair of scissors as his weapon of choice. He's a rebel...and his face is a mess. Not only does he run with scissors--defying worrying mothers everywhere--but he wields them with glamour and simmering menace that feels as if they are generated from deep within as opposed to being contrived and applied from the outside. In a time when a young audience for contemporary dance seems content with hip, wacky absurdities as sources of easy laughs and easy shocks, Thompson gives us the shocks that catch those laughs in our throats and make us wonder if those flimsy seats we're sitting on might give way and slip us into the chaos. Best of that Mix program because he's convincing, a true star--Layard Thompson.