The struggle for balance is one that all dancers know well. Check
out The Macarthur Project and Brian Senti's From The Margins, This,
Unmentioned at The Brooklyn Lyceum to watch their struggle to win this very
battle. The gorgeous space, architectural costumes, dancers, video
projection, orchestra and singers shine against an exposed brick wall and come
to a screeching halt before they hit sensory overload. Based on five
poems about a young girl's descent, prepare yourself for an evening that flings
you down a rabbit hole into the deeply rich cavern of choreographer Bronwen
Macarthur's physicality and conductor Bryan Senti's musicality. This
world pulls at your heartstrings as it emanates with melancholy, vitality, and
the quest for resilience.
In the opening piece, Ambition Reveals Itself to a Small Town Girl, six
dancers enter the space and stand frozen for thirty seconds as the lights begin
to come up revealing highly sculptured costumes by the talented Maja
Gunn. All of a sudden, the dancers hear a starting gun, which I cannot,
and I land in their world with a glorious thud. Luxuriously cutting
through the air with well-trained extremities, the dancers dissect a long
phrase individually over and over again in and out of a cyclical
formation.
Meghan Frederick, a standout amongst the well-trained sextet, is lifted
by partner Matthew Westerby and directly after, the pair is lifted by the
remaining four dancers. To my delight, this same phrase repeats itself
communicating the company's cohesive nature and their ability to create synergy
worth recalling. The French horn that began the piece grows as the energy
increases like a tornado taking everything in its path off its axis as staccato
plucked strings pulsate like a metronome. Meanwhile two flat screened TVs
delve deep into a Marilyn Monroe lipped woman literally filming down past her
well filed teeth to the very depths of her physical being.
In Ocelot Gone Missing from the Local Zoo, MacArthur enters in a
black camisole dress with tuxedo ruffles partnered with the steady rhythm of a
bass drum. Soon joined by the captivating Hannah Marie Corbin and Matthew
Westerby, this trio finds common ground through wildly isolated hips doing
homage to "Barbie" in a parade of forced arch glory. Corbin and
Westerby find intense connectedness in their duet with magnetized arms and
legs. Macarthur's sinewy back and precise undulations tell the story of
the company's work - calculated, practiced, and both her living philosophy and
legacy. The singers in the orchestra begin to release their breath louder
and louder joined by a soulful saxophone - punctuating the exertion and
honoring the artistry that paints the Marley with fleeting fossils.
Alter of Memory, Slowly Undressing explores the profound union of Frederick and
Marcos Duran with Chelsea Retzloff wildly trapped in her own world that somehow
shares the space. In giant robes similar to hospital gowns, Frederick and
Marcos Duran explore breath and physical touch finding resting points on each
others bodies. The piece finds it high point when Duran and Retzloff
flank Frederick and the three erupt into rapid breaths leading them to and from
standing as if moved by the same gust of wind. The genuine connection of
the Frederick Duran duo is lost on me when towards the end Duran seems to bite
Frederick on the neck directly followed by shaking his fists in a menacing
fashion towards the audience. I later learn that he is supposed to be
breathing on her - furthering the choreographic language founded earlier - but
it seems more like Robert Pattison in Twilight than what I imagine MacArthur
intended. Throughout this piece the same girl, whose physical world we've
entered, finds a boy in piles of leaves in the video. This delight
contrasts well with the severity of the pieces movement.
The fourth piece, Celebrity, gives us just that with a trio of
women in full fem-bot attire - patent leather leotards with bubble skirts,
heavily cuffed wrists and puffed shoulders to boot! With arms frozen at
their sides the three repeat a footwork phrase time and time again
incorporating the change of their focus to intrigue the audience. Just like
moving dolls they suck me into their world and regardless of the repetitiveness
I cannot stop watching - they transform into high fashion models - not
necessarily conventionally beautiful but so fascinating I can barely bring my
focus to MaCarthur and Takiyah Britton as they utilize all of their extremities
in the making of dance. What MacArthur and Britton brings is an
emotional pulse to a piece otherwise rife with untouchably human
abandonment. Playing off of the "celebrity" title the girl in
the video walks about a cocktail party with champagne.
To transition from Celebrity to the show's title piece, From
the Margins, This, Unmentioned, Duran and Westerby interrupt the girlfest
by physically lifting them off the ground and taking them off of the Marley.
The men folk waste no time and soar into a duet covering ground quickly and
beautifully. One by one the fem-bots have transformed back into modern
dancers and make their way across the beautifully lit catwalk above the
orchestra. As they slowly descend into the playing space they become
rejuvenated and wildly move like a runner's kick at the end of the
marathon. With near perfect timing the full company engages in a unison
phrase ending with their collapse to the floor. Stunning strings fade as the
girl in the video sits naked on a roof in the dark. Brilliant!
Next time you hear of MacArthur Dance Project, bring your focus to the
show and watch the company with Brian Senti test the limits of what audience
members can consume and see them win the war with balance.
