We went to see a dance show at the Joyce Theater of the French dance company Ballet Lorraine. There were three pieces on the program, each one of them better than the other. The program began with a work entitled "Devoted" by the choreographers Bengolea and Chaignaud. (The Joyce's program notes were uncommonly skimpy; there was nothing at all written about either the choreographers or the pieces.) The piece was set to "Another Look at Harmony, Part IV" by Phillip Glass.
I really can't stand Phillip Glass's music. It's unbearable.
Ok, now that I have gotten that out of the way, the piece did have some interesting qualities. Set for eight female dances, it began with dancers turning and moving very much in sync with the obstinate patterns of the music, with fairly simple and standard movements. This went on for a while, and patterns were developed and things evolved, the dancers very much under the control of the music. By the end of the piece something interesting happened though; it seemed as if the disciplined movements of the dancers were disintegrating, and the some of the dancers were gradually becoming unhinged, resulting in strange and vulgar movement at times. Was this my own subjective reading of the piece, as a result of my mental derangement after hearing yet another bombastic repetition of the same chord progression? I don't know.
The second piece, by Alban Richard, was set to Louis Andreissen's "Hoketus". Hoketus is Andreissen in his hard-core minimalist mode; with lots of very loud little riffs being repeated over and over again. It made for a great dance score. The movement, for twelve dancers, reflected the development of the music in a very interesting way. The piece began with twelve dancers in a row, with short repeated movements by the dancers appearing in contrasted and varied groupings. It was mesmerizing. Over the course of the piece, there was lots of choreographic energy and much that I can't describe. A very stimulating piece. Though it did have its long moments. Looking on the internet, I did see a clip from the premiere performance, which was done with live music, half of the ensemble lined up on one side of the stage and the other have on the other side. Now that would have been really something to hear!
A YouTube clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9ztAwoVNN0
The last piece was "Sounddance", by Merce Cunningham, with an electronic score by David Tudor. Wow! Sounddance is one of Cunningham's maximal pieces, where there is so much going on that you are pretty much overwhelmed; after seeing it once, I wanted to see it again. Dancers grouped and regrouped, with one group set on one side of the stage, and others scattered in different groups. Counterpoint everywhere! All of this with an astounding electronic score by David Tudor in real quadraphonic sound (Thanks, Joyce Theater and Ballet Lorraine for doing this right!). The score was originally done live with all kinds of electronic feedback loops in 1974. When the dance was remounted in the 1990's, the live performances proved to be impractical, and a taped version was made. The score is extremely dynamic, with sounds moving and echoing all over the space. To my ears, it felt too loud and dominated the dance; but I think that was the original intention. There is a fascinating clip on YouTube which shows Cunningham taking about the piece and clips from a performance in 1994 and from rehearsals. The sound from the recorded performances does not match the level we heard in the live performances, though. (And you are not going to get quadraphonic sound out of your computer!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9RXD4tBtJo
Every Cunningham dance that I see and hear brings me new appreciation of his genius; I deeply regret all those years when we were not in New York and unable to see his company perform. I'm going to try to make up for it!
