‘In Pursuit Of Love’ is the third installment of BODYTRAFFIC’s four part ‘In Pursuit’ series, and, like the others, has focused on one of the signature elements of a happy life. The other three in the series being Home, Community, and Joy. Artistic Director Tina Finkelman-Berkett has been very savvy in her choice of venues for the Four Pursuits. ‘Home’ at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, ‘Community’ at the Skirball Cultural Center, ‘Love’ at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion, and finally ‘Joy’ will be at the Avalon Hollywood on May 16th 2024.
BODYTRAFFIC – Pre-performance talk by artistic director Tina Finkelman-Berkett at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion – Photo courtesy of BODYTRAFFIC.
Each of these venues is unique and a couple of them are not theater spaces at all but lend themselves to the construction of a temporary raised performance space with unobstructed sightlines for all. These spaces have proved to be architectural support, if not outright collaborators with BODYTRAFFIC’s contemporary choreography in that they underline and draw attention to the immediate and illusive nature of dance as an artform. The backdrop of the space at the Audrey Irmas Pavilion was a wall of windows that reflected the dancers’ images as they performed. The reflections wavered and winked in and out of existence depending on the lighting of the piece. Once done the dance ceases to exist, the platforms are taken down and the spaces revert to open air possibilities. This temporary aspect of BODYTRAFFIC’s venues reminds me of a quote:
“You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive.”
― Merce Cunningham
Alive indeed. There was a great deal of love on display during the evening, not the least of which was demonstrated by the dancers for their art, each other, and the singular glory of feeling alive through movement.
BODYTRAFFIC – In BODYTRAFFIC – Joan Rodriguez and Katie Garcia in Blue Until June by Trey McIntyre – Photo by Timothy Norris.
First on the program was ‘Blue Until June,’ choreography by Trey McIntyre and set to music by Etta James. Through a series of songs by Etta James we see different aspects of relationships in couples, triads and groups. Some of these aspects are infatuation, attraction, aversion, jealousy, control, ownership, boundaries, etc. In one of the duets the female does not welcome the attention of the male at all, and it shows in the many forced lifts they do throughout. The movement here is very clean and controlled with nothing wasted or out of place. The company performs unison movement very well and it is telling in its power to comment as one voice or body. The costumes by Sandra Woodall moved beautifully and accentuated the bodies well. As the piece went on I noticed something. As Etta James was pouring her heart out vocally and exposing her soul to the world, the movement accompanying her testimony was exact, and as I said, clean and controlled. At the end I was wishing for more dirty humanity to have been shown, the faults and missteps of passion together with the fallibility of human nature. The soul aches to hear Etta James declare what she would do for a real love – and I wanted to see that messy desire physically embodied onstage. The dancers are clearly capable of this depth of acting and technical skill, but the choreography remained a beautiful exercise somewhat ignoring the pain and ugliness of unrequited love through the lens of Jazz and Blues.
The second piece on the program was ‘Recurrence’ with choreography by Ethan Colangelo and music by Vincent Royer and Travis Lake. This duet was set to text by Jayme Lawson and was powerful in its indictment of how lovers at times can treat each other. The woman is sitting on the man’s back while he is on all fours, and as he raises himself up, she stands to the question of ‘Can you carry it all?.’ The answer is apparently ‘yes’ as they go on in a series of wild partnering and lifts where her hand is covering his face rendering him blind and giving immediate meaning to the phrase ‘Can I trust you?.’ Issues of insecurity and support are woven through in like fashion. They test each other’s limits and never stop showing up for each other. The performers Pedro Garcia and Tiare Keeno nail this duet in their trust and vulnerability. The effort and expectation of a relationship is alluded to in counterbalances and sudden drops of exhaustion. The final move was a fantastic comment on the never-ending work that goes into any long-term relationship.
BODYTRAFFIC – (L-R) Alana Jones, Katie Garcia, Jordyn Santiago, Pedro Garcia, Ty Morrison, Joan Rodriguez, and Tiare Keeno in Love.Lost.Fly by Micaela Taylor- Photo by Jason Sean Weiss/BFA.
The third piece was a contemporary dance story ballet. ‘Love. Lost. Fly’ is choreographer Micaela Taylor’s take on the unrequited love scenario, along the lines of ‘Madam Butterfly.’ Music by Shockey and Ezio Bosso was unnerving and explicit in emphasizing the schism between new love, trust, and brutal betrayal. The costumes by Lori Lee harken back to ‘Pippin,’ or any one of Shakespeare’s plays done by a travelling troupe or band of players. They work to separate the characters within the storyline and augment the movement required for the piece. The action was clear, and the performers delivered their various parts and personalities in gorgeous mime and gesture. I love gesture and don’t think choreographers use it enough to convey all of the nuanced meaning that it can transmit so simply. Happily, Taylor does. There was an entire vocabulary of gesture in and around the face and head to convey exactly what each character thought and felt. This gestural vocabulary also served to explain the many physical and emotional manipulations made by the group. Jordyn Santiago was excellent as the female lead who loves, is betrayed, has a child, and ultimately escapes the petty workings of those around her. She begins in a most naïve manner conveyed by her innocence of movement and total trust in others. She is very happy without a care to furrow her brow. We then feel her joy at falling in Love, feel her betrayal and feel her pain. We can almost forgive Joan Rodriguez for his infidelity as we see him mercilessly outmaneuvered by Tiare Keeno. There is also the fantastic interventions of Pedro Garcia as an Iago character hell-bent on stopping the flirtation between Santiago and Rodriguez due to his jealous rage. His physical contortions reflecting his emotional state at witnessing the woman he loves fall in love with another gives the audience a visual of how jealousy corrupts from within. This group of performers is ready for ‘Othello’ or ‘Hamlet’ and certainly should not shy away from narrative.
The evening closed with a heartfelt tribute by choreographer Barak Marshall in memory of his father, Mel Marshall. This was an excerpt from a larger work, ‘Rooster,’ and was set to Wayne Newton’s version of ‘Danke Schoen.’ This version is a great piece of jazzy orchestration that builds to a wonderful crescendo towards the end of the song. Again, the company moved in lovely unison with sweeping choreography. I only wish the movement better matched the outrageous orchestration, with the build in key change and the horn stings throwing the whole thing into a heightened exaltation.
BODYTRAFFIC delivers and can deliver more. The trick will be in finding choreographers who can utilize these performers to their utmost potential.
BODYTRAFFIC performers are: Guzmán Rosado, Tiare Keeno, Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Alana Jones, Ty Morrison, Joan Rodriguez, and Jordyn Santiago.
For more information about BODYTRAFFIC, please visit their website.
Written by Brian Fretté for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: BODYTRAFFIC – (L-R) Tiare Keeno , Alana Jones, Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Joan Rodriguez, and Jordyn Santiago in “Love.Lost.Fly” by Micaela Taylor – Photo by Jason Sean Weiss/BFA.
