Although titled this way and connected by the ampersand, these are really two separate pieces. The former being a trio and the latter a solo. The performers for “Beasts” were Divya Ahuja, Rian Alcid and Sasha Marlan-Librett. All three good movers, handling text and neutral face quite well. The text by Kevin Williamson was fast and furious and interestingly a precursor to his solo, “Blue”. For me the title of this piece refers to a famous quote by Aristotle: “Man is by nature a social animal”. Anyone living outside of this dictum are Beasts. Humankind, living as social animals are susceptible to all sorts of pressures to conform within the group – whatever that particular group may be.
Dance at the Odyssey – Divya Ahuja, Rian Alcid and Sasha Marlan-Librett in “Beasts”, choreography by Kevin Williamson – Photo courtesy of the artist.
The text begins with the three performers all speaking into mics at the same time and voicing different kinds of advertisements for various ailments, such as baldness or marital aids, etc. Some of it quite funny as when an ad for stronger contacts is made. “These contacts have 3x stronger magnification capabilities so that you may actually look down and see your penis”. Some announcements having to do with hashtags and being able to find the right product for whatever your personal vulnerable weakness is; when judged by others within your group.
Dance at the Odyssey – Divya Ahuja, Rian Alcid and Sasha Marlan-Librett in “Beasts”, choreography by Kevin Williamson – Photo courtesy of the artist.
This was interspersed with movement underlining angst or isolation and at times sexual innuendo. One soundscape was heavy breathing into the microphone coupled with the performer caressing themselves, another had the performer gasping with guttural breath as if suffering from a respiratory disease, a third was groaning. All were indicative of some kind of sensual or sexual effort while the dancers themselves went through various choreographic movements alone or in unison, not necessarily connected to the text being spoken. What was clear was humans having to communicate, needing to communicate, anything and everything that was affecting their sense of self within the group.
Dance at the Odyssey – Kevin Williamson in his solo “Blue” – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
“Blue” was a solo for Kevin Williamson in which he takes this criticism of the human animal to another level. Sometimes disturbing, sometimes hysterical, the visuals and text from this solo serve as an indictment to the current mindset of people living in the here and now. The stage is set with an overturned folding chair in a downspot stage left and a man encased in a plastic bag downstage right. We immediately try to make sense of this visual by thinking maybe the man has fallen from the chair and is now stuck in this bag. He rolls around in the bag and emerges as if from an amniotic sac, full grown and ready to take on the world. But is he?
He then moves in a struggled solo where time is passing and he is aware of it but cannot stop it, or slow it, or make it matter more. It is a kind of defeat in restless movement ending with a collapse to the floor. He walks over to a mic stand and delivers a prepared speech to the audience as if a guest speaker at some public event. This speech is very funny and is dripping with sarcasm and irony. I for one loved this as sarcasm and irony and satire have fallen into disuse lately. He has a list of grievances: pain, existential dread, apathy, isolation, etc., all of the things working on our psyches in this age of social media. He goes on to ego, ignorance, yearning and despair, and mentions the spirit of melancholy, which would be an excellent ghost to visit some future Ebenezer some winter night. In a few different personas he has trouble communicating with us and relies on his movement to bring home the message, which it does. He is accompanied by Hao Huang on piano playing beautiful and haunting melodies live. Williamson elucidates a list of words and themes that are not part of today’s rhetoric and as he does so he applies a clothespin to the skin of his arm. These serve to remind him in painful form of what we, as a society, have lost by refusing to speak about things like Anti-racism and so many more. It is a further indictment of the times we live in as if we need any more proof other than a cursory glance at any headline in any news feed anywhere.
Dance at the Odyssey – Kevin Williamson in his solo “Blue” – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
As well as the spirit of melancholy there is losing empathy that concerns him. The clothespins help him to feel. And we feel with him. At times the thrashing of his arms with the contractions of his torso put me in mind of an irate Archaeopteryx abandoning its perch, its perspective. His movement becomes convulsive until all of the clothespins are thrown off. He returns to the upside-down chair and wants to know why it is there – so do we. It serves as a testament to the person who used to inhabit it, as well as an anchor, a weight, a sadness and loss that must be borne, dealt with and addressed. Finally, he gets down on all fours and moves the chair across the stage and out of his way. However, another has now taken its place. And so begins a Sisyphean exercise in futility and frustration. In the end he faces the empty chair and says, ”I don’t want to live in a world without you”. Here is the final culmination of all the angst and loss heretofore.
He has made us aware of the issues which he wrestles with and why we all should be involved in the struggle to balance our lives while these issues remain. We recognize our own issues and are thankful we are not alone in having them. While the title “Blue” may define his/our character, we are also reflected in the “Beasts” that Aristotle spoke of. Perhaps that is why these two pieces are conjoined on this program.
The winter series of Dance at the Odyssey continues February 15, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit their website.
Written by Brian Fretté for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Dance at the Odyssey – Kevin Williamson in his solo “Blue” – Photo by Taso Papadakis.
