It is culturally understood that Angelenos tend to drop everything and stay in when it rains — but that wasn’t the case for a sold-out weekend of VULGAR, an immersive dance theater event by Stephanie Mizrahi and company. On Saturday evening, the show’s venue (a recording and dance studio called Everything) was packed to the gills, the front room buzzing with willing and enthusiastic audience participants.
Posters introducing the historical figures that inspired the show drew us into the space, where volunteers served beverages, sandwiches and baked goods to the crowd. Cast member Ryan Nuss set the tone with a few jazzy numbers on his saxophone before leading us to our seats for the first act. Director, producer, and choreographer Stephanie Mizrahi introduced the evening with special thanks and a bit of context:
Cast of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
When Irene and Vernon Castle wrote the book Modern Dancing in 1914, their “aim [was] to uplift dancing, purify it, and place it before the public in its proper light.” The couple believed that “dancing, properly executed, [was] neither vulgar nor immodest, but, on the contrary, the personification of refinement, grace, and modesty.”
Over 100 years later, Mizrahi picked up a copy of the book at her local used bookstore and VULGAR was born — an evening of dance theater commentary on a seemingly ridiculous book about 1910s dance etiquette.
Cast of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
Act I, titled “Grace and Refinement,” began in the venue’s dance studio. Archival footage of the Castles as portrayed by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers coaxed us into the ragtime era. Mizrahi introduced us to the Castles’ philosophy with an eager smile, sharing an excerpt from the text on poise. Dancers Lydia McDonald and Mizuki Sako demonstrated the etiquette as she read, occasionally subverting the instructions with cheeky rebellion. Clad in white bloomers, the three artists tumbled together, squealing and smooching and reading excerpts from the book, falling in and out of propriety but never out of sync. While the scene was silly and charming, their technical execution didn’t falter: they were nimble, sure-footed, and in on the joke.
Cast of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
We moved back into the front room, where Kittie Richman, Makena Sekimoto, and Ashley Shukman set us up for Act II, “Dance as a Beautifier.” Sekimoto lip synced into a broom, winning us over with her earnest delivery. Richman and Shukman worked to keep up with the era’s societal beauty standards, painting each other with makeup and reading aloud the Castles’ assertion that dancing could help women stay ‘trim.’ To close the act, a tender duet between Mizrahi and Sako brought a true, beautiful connection to the stage — a contrast to the put-on performance and distance created by their ‘manners.’
After a brief intermission, we returned to the dance studio for Act III, “Here in America…”, where the first two rows of seats were rearranged in the round. The dancers took the floor, showing more and more disillusionment with their predetermined ‘roles,’ and as Nuss joined them to portray a sort of male director figure, the women pleaded for his approval. I could see they were torn between their prescribed ‘moral duty’ and their actual desires, but I wanted more clarity, specificity on how each character saw those things. I saw commentary on gender roles, queerness, and morality, but I wasn’t quite sure what the commentary was. Throughout the work, they flipped between obedience and rebellion, which was fine — I just wanted the catharsis of a more defined break from the etiquette, and to explore the consequences and fallout of that rebellion.
Cast of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
The choreography was virtuosic, impressive, and decidedly cute in that the cast was all committed to the stylings of the prewar era, marked by ragtime and early jazz. The artists were each lovely in their own right. Though not always proper, they were prim and poised and right in time with the melody throughout, even while executing very acrobatic, athletic feats with stunning precision.
Cast of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
As the evening continued, I felt myself hoping for a more dynamic shift in the movement style to mirror the thesis we were moving toward; something more grounded and syncopated to break up the perfectly carried, caricatured steps. Even when they broke out of the norms, the dancers were given a sort of infantilized range of reactions that the book had predicted: hysterics, temper tantrums. I wondered what would happen if they were allowed rage, or even indifference.
Cast of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
Act IV, “The ‘Thé Dansant,’” entailed the dancers pulling the audience onto their feet to try a few steps together. Almost the entire audience jumped in, stumbling over their dance partners with silly sweetness. As the cast gathered in the center for their final bows, the audience was so enthusiastic they almost couldn’t stop dancing, and the energy spilled out into the lobby as the show ended.
Cast and members of the audience in VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
The premise of VULGAR was strong and sound, so much so that I think it carried the parts of the show that needed further fleshing out. While absolutely entertaining, I felt the whole evening like the work was on the precipice of something greater that it never quite reached. I would love to see further iterations that carve the shape of the evening with specific intention: deeper character development, a more defined conflict arc, and clearer motivation for the audience to move from place to place. I think immersive work can mean more than moving the seats around, and considerations could be made to give audience members options, especially those differently abled, when inviting them onstage to participate.
Cast and audience of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
That said, independently producing an immersive show at this scale is a true feat. The dance landscape in Los Angeles is such that in a director/choreographer/producer role, Mizrahi had to have accomplished a heavy lift to stage the entire evening on her own. With the help of production assistant Mara Saliman and stage manager Ana Ko, she tackled the task with a determined vision. VULGAR is a seed with a spark: with a little more shaping, it has the potential to become a delightful immersive world woven with humor and tenderness.
For more information about Stephanie Mizrahi, please visit her website.
Written by Celine Kiner for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Cast members of VULGAR by Stephanie Mizrahi – Photo by Logan Miller.
