Monday, October 24, 2005

ODC/San Francisco

I'll start by saying that these dancers are very athletic.

Featuring the entire company, three pieces were performed:
- RingRoundRozi
- 24 Exposures
- On a Train Heading South

I saw this dance company at the Joyce on October 16th. With RingRoundRozi, the dancers are already onstage and the music starts with the sounds of little children who sound like they are playing together. Those sounds gradually fade to music composed by Linda Bouchard.

The syncronization of the dancers was onpoint. The lifts (in some cases women were lifting men) were very strong and at times during fast dance sequences.

Their second movement used the sounds of a violin. The third used music which (in my opinion) was hard to keep count to but this performance was seamless. It was exhausting watching it actually because the dancing was so intense and the expression on the dancers' faces showed that they were taking it seriously and were focused. What I liked also about this piece was when at points when a couple was on stage (with or without additional dancers), they would do a sequence of moves across the stage which would bring in another couple. Not like that's something new in dance, it was noticible and well done here.

24 Exposures was a nice piece. The opening had people on the edge of the seat not wanting to breath too hard! The women were in sundresses which matched color with their male dance partner who were in khais and tanktops.A guy on all fours at centerstage with a wman standing on his back, he slowly begins to stand (a few "Shh's" come from the audience) and you can see some of the dancers standing to the sides of the stage with anxious looks. The woman starts to shake a bit as she trys to maintain her balance. They both make it!! She's standing on his back and he's standing (with his lowerbacked arched to support her). The audience applauds and the dancers begin their performance. The woman leaps backward off his back and lands on her back in the arms of 2 guys. Talk about trust! Through out the performance, there were several instances of falling back into a guy or gilr's arms (though not from the height at the beginning).

The second movement of this piece included incredible lifts and spins at fast and furious speeds (music used were of string instruments).

The third movement was very mellow. It started with a woman dancing alone on stage with a big grin on her face for about 2 minutes. five guys then come on stage at a diaginal until they get to centerstage. Once there they carefully do numerous ballet moves in place while other women gradually get on stage and are playfully trying to distract the guys. After a few minutes everyone is dancing with so much energy-spinning, running, lifting, and having a good time. The piece comes to an abrupt and interesting end with four women (with the help of three guys in a way being used as stands) show the still shots of a woman who would be leaping into the air.

The final piece of their performance is called On a Train heading South. Here the music uses a piano and large blocks of ice hang in a semi arch with a light on each of them. Of course the light causes the ice to being to melt and drip water on the stage during the performance. The music also includes snippets of pop music such as "Toxic" from Britney Spears and sound bytes from Bush and the sounds go back to instrumental.

The dancers don't dance under the melting ice until towards the end of the performance. The mood changes towards the end. A woman in front stage center continuously draws a semi circle with her hand making eye contact with the audience while two guys are dancing with each other across the stage and are all wet (pants soaled through from all the water on the stage). Three women in the back of stage right are doing various poses on the floor. The music becomes so soft that you can begin to hear the drops of water from the hanging ice hit the stage. Then the lights fade to black.

Well done folks!!