The program began with “Closer To…” and was the debut performance of Dani Burd’s Indigo Dance Company (IDC). Although Burd is listed as the Founder/Director of IDC, she lists the members as ‘movement collaborators’ helping to define the work as democratic and egalitarian.
The performers are: Erika (Rik) Soto, Kaelie Osorio, Madi Thomas, Melissa Valenzuela, and Savanna Rae Gonzalez. All were exceptional movers and delivered the choreography with beautifully realized acting.
According to the program notes, “Closer To…’ challenges our notions of escapism as a form of running from and considers the very human impulse to search for a way to bring us closer to our life source. ‘Closer to…’ has revealed itself within the process to also hold a great deal of space for grief.” There was plenty of grief to be had, but I must say it was done in a thoughtful, sensitive and artistic manner, so much so that we never tired of the emotion rearing its head throughout the piece. Indeed the piece was a sort of contemplation and meditation on grief in its myriad forms and how the individual feels it, denies it, becomes angry by it, and lastly accepts it as a natural part of life, of living. This realization allows one to move on in their life. Perhaps now with the realization that one cannot entirely eradicate pain and disappointment from one’s own experience, but one can survive it. The Stoics have volumes to say about this subject. What was so lovely about Indigo’s take on the subject was the intimacy and vulnerability of the group. Each performer had a chance to express their own means of escape from situations or emotions and each rang true. Whether expressing anger through a physical hissy fit or consoling another, trying to divert the feeling by reading books, journaling, painting, or lying in bed, it was clear what each person felt and how they were trying to handle it.
Madi Thomas and Savanna Rae in”Closer To…” by Dani Burd – Photo by Madison Stonefield.
The piece opens with chaise lounge upstage right and a bed with a side table and lamp on it upstage left. There is a stack of books downstage right. It is reminiscent of a small apartment or dorm room. Six women enter and take the stage and proceed to move. Their movement is not just steps to music but a crack in their psyches that let us glimpse their emotional state. The movement is smooth and controlled, precise and gestural. It goes into and out of unison showing us that the emotions are not singular and specific but shared by many depending on how they handle life’s challenges – how does anyone escape the pain of negative events?
This segues into a solo for the commanding presence of Erika Soto. What was so engaging about Soto’s dancing was her ability to show angst, grief, and solitude without spilling over into maudlin sentiment. She was simple in her execution of movement and so was effective as a hammer-blow to the heart. It was as if the audience had a two-way mirror into her struggles where she didn’t ‘perform’ for those present but merely allowed them to see her enveloped with her private emotions. She is a dramatic dancer, in a time when that distinction has an air of disdain about it. More is the pity. She has an exquisite control and temperament for the art of dancing, and I am excited to see where she will take it.
Dani Burd and Savanna Rae in “Closer To…” by Dani Burd – Photo by Madison Stonefield.
This is not to ignore the other dancers onstage with her. All were very good movers and Dani Burd also has a command of physicality that is a joy to watch. She shows a smart use of space and the group she has put together are sensitive to each other in that space. It was more than just doing choreography in a limited area – truly it did not seem confined at all when the whole group was cavorting through it. They each had a sense of each other so that every person was considered and given room to express. This is a very nuanced aspect to the choreography. There was an intimacy in the tight movement sequences that made the whole poignant. I look forward to whatever comes next for this new company of capable movers/actors. Costumes by Odessa Newman were simple, almost uniform in dark pants and shirts with a midriff underneath. However, the uniformity of them brought out the individual even more strongly. It was a smart choice.
Felicia St. Cyr in Leah Zeiger’s “HYSTERIA” – Photo by Orlando Agawin.
This was followed by Leah Zeiger’s most recent work, HYSTERIA “exposing the maddening, crazy-making experience of being in an abusive relationship and being forced to re-experience that dynamic in the context of daily life as a woman living in a patriarchal society.”
This was a piece performed by Katey Besser, Maggie Canady, and Felicia St. Cyr who also aided in the choreography with Zeiger. It was, by all means, an extremely personal piece and backed by a score by Max Berlin and Adam Schwartz. The score helped to anchor the piece while allowing the performers to alter weight transfer and gesture depending on the moment. The piece opened with a slow-motion walking movement phrase that was exaggerated and weighted with the arms swinging in opposition to the legs extending behind in a heavy gait. It was quietly satisfying and lulled us into a trance-like state before developing into more specific gestural movements. In effect, we went along on the ride and experienced what they did onstage.
Felicia St. Cyr in Leah Zeiger’s “HYSTERIA” – Photo by Orlando Agawin.
According to Zeiger’s Artistic Statement: “After surviving an abusive relationship I cycled through shame and grief for quite some time. I was confronted with a new understanding of our patriarchal world, now seen through the eyes of a survivor.” The work was intimate and obviously greatly important to Zeiger enabling her to work through her past experience as well as to alert others to the effects of being a woman in a patriarchal world. The three performers did justice to the different attitudes of sexuality present in the female body, whether empowering or disenfranchising, titillating or vulnerable. Various aspects of femininity were on display with the dancers at one point in control and at others subject to being objectified.
She states: “Our anger is righteous and frightening. Our bodies are commodities, are temples, are legislated, are sacred, are weapons to be controlled or wielded.” It was a courageous and brave showing of newly found insight derived from a horrendous past experience. It also resonates deeply with the recent Supreme Court rulings concerning the Female Body. Food for thought.
For more information on Indigo Dance Company, please visit their Instagram page.
For more information about Leah Zeiger, please visit her website.
To see what else is appearing at Highways Performance Space, please with their website.
Written by Brian Fretté for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Left: Dani Burd in Closer To… by Dani Burd and Right: Katey Besser in Leah Zieger’s HYSTERIA – Photos by Madison Stonefield.
