Though the REDCAT house is a small one with a small budget for emerging artists, its 2019 New Original Works Festival brought bold voices to the stage last week. The presenter’s programs for young artists with new works have a knack for curating evenings that make you listen, then make you think.
Sola Bamis began the evening with “The Tutorial Part II: The White Tears Tea Stream,” brilliantly crafted, it required that she slip effortlessly in and out of several characters. Bamis’ characters each brought a new light to the disparity between white and black problems. She recounted her experience ‘being God’ with the easygoing entitlement of a wealthy white woman in her voice; chatted about mother-daughter bonding over the slave trade as a daytime talk show host; and sold a healing elixir made from black women’s tears as a sleazy white businessman. Despite their brevity, the few seconds of movement in the piece served Bamis’ purposes well via strong shapes and affliction initiated at the gut. Though Bamis may not be a “professional dancer” by title, Mims worked well with her existing vocabulary and a Kendrick Lamar soundtrack, all to compliment the rest of the performance without overshadowing it.
Zach Dorn and Danielle Dahl offered a change of scenery—literally—in the second act with “Sponge Hollow,” a beautifully constructed narrative told with a set of miniatures through a camera embedded in a model train. Dorn’s town of miniatures were home to a story sweet, sad and spunky. Dahl’s whimsical live score set the tone for Dorn’s small tale, with twists and laughs and many fond references to the classic television series “Gilmore Girls.” The piece recalled a Tim Burton number, but with the thrill of live production and a much lighter tone. There was technically no dancing in this piece. After watching Dorn duck under the miniatures to switch cameras and then emerge to manipulate his characters, however, I’d say he spent more time on his tiptoes than your average modern dancer. He himself was a huge part of the show—perhaps his presence was a bit curated or choreographed to best lend itself to the story.
Katherine Helen Fisher and Andrew Ondrejcak’s “The Muses” closed the evening in a feminine dance party for the ages. Fisher invited me to observe a rehearsal earlier in the week, where I immediately fell in love with the cast. A band of boldly breathtaking misfits took the stage, each defining for themselves what it meant to be feminine, to be a muse.
In what Fisher called ‘maximalist’ costumes borrowed from the LA Opera storage closets, these muses headbanged to their hearts’ delight. The contrast here was interesting—while one might expect the muses to dance dignified shapes with poised posture (something akin to ballet) they did very little on their tiptoes. That’s because Fisher spent time in Lucinda Childs and Mark Morris’ companies, doing quite the opposite. She tells me she’s not interested in movement invention. The way I see it, her movement is the “pedestrian” we learned from the postmodern era, but it oozes a sort of cool confidence. And it works. It fits these gorgeous nonbinary muses well, giving them permission to embody the steps. They weave in and out of this headbanging motif, sometimes in a fascinating contrapuntal pattern and sometimes off in the corner all alone. They thrive off each other’s energy, and they own the stage they walk on—so much so that you feel blessed, privileged to watch these muses gather.
Ondrejcak’s contribution, a hand-painted backdrop, complimented the costumes well without pulling from the dancers, sort of in the same hip and muted way that Helado Negro’s score let the muses mold it with their movement. Ondrejcak’s script, though, a dark description of a cat’s dismantled prey told through several graphic monologues, didn’t tessellate into the act as seamlessly as I would’ve liked. Put a dancer onstage with a microphone and she may freeze up, especially if she’s supposed to stand still. Then again, not all of the performers were lifelong dancers, either—and that’s part of the reason the piece was so welcoming. Together, this stunning cast of muses made certain you thanked them for letting you watch, all the while hoping you’d participate in their dance party.
REDCAT NOW presents one more weekend Thursday-Saturday, August 8 – 10 at 8:30 p.m.. For more information and tickets, click here.
Written by Celine Kiner for LA Dance Chronicle, August 6, 2019
Featured image: Katherine Helen Fisher and Andrew Ondrejcak’s “The Muses” – Photo by Mark Escribano
