Northwest New Works: campy, clever, and unpredictable
The New Works Festival at On the Boards, which started last weekend and continues Friday-Sunday (June 11-13), highlights some of Seattle's finest choreographers.
By Spider Kedelsky
Never again will I look at the catwalk in a fashion show and not think of the short chunky guy in the Utilikilt and high heels, or the tall guy wearing plaid golf pants and a tiny orange watch cap perched on his shaved head. They and 10 other men and women of various sizes, shapes and colors, some trained dancers and some not, appeared in Mark Haim’s “This Land is Your Land,” the clever and droll piece that was the highlight of the first weekend of mainstage performances at On the Boards’ annual Northwest New Works Festival.
An experienced choreographer with wide-ranging interests, Haim here exercised his campy side to the max in this funny send-up of fashionistas, body perceptions, sexual identity, and America’s consumption culture. He is credited in the program with the “concept” rather than the choreography, and though this work was the least dancey of the four premieres on the evening’s program, in structure and form it had the surest hand guiding it.
Five or six on stage at a time, the performers parade their stuff towards the audience and back, always in front of a brightly colored screen, each with a lidded coffee cup in hand. One by one they exit around the left side of the screen only to return from the other side a few minutes later in slightly altered or completely different attire.
As they exit, the performers drop their cups in a large, clear trash basket. Over time their walks get more exaggerated, sometimes with skipping and other variations. One can assume this is the result of caffeine overdoses.
The performers eventually fill the garbage with all sorts of drink cups, and change costumes and accessories many times from informal street wear, to formal dress, to men in drag, to completely undressed for a bit, to underwear, and finally everyone in basic black, with the ultimate chic accessories — handguns and Uzis.
The dance works well for two reasons. First the simple premise of the repetitive runway walk, a bit like the phase patterning of early Steve Reich music — slight overlapping variations that shift everything over time — all done to the constant beat of a medley of country and western songs.
Second is the dynamic balance Haim creates between the known and the unknown, leading to dramatic uncertainty and anticipation, and lots of fun. The next performer is going to enter from behind the screen but which will it be? We know she or he will have some costume change, but what will each be wearing or carrying, and what will their mannered walk be? We know they’ll drop their cups in the garbage upon exiting, but will they miss, and what happens when the can gets full?
All of the performers have individualized expressions and walks that make me think they studied the zomboid looks and exaggerated struts of real runway models, perhaps also with quick perusals of a video of Monty Python’s famed “Ministry of Silly Walks” sketch. They are all fearless in their dogged repetitions whether clothed or not, and they together make a wonderful and oddly matched ensemble.
If there was a shortcoming to the dance, it was that we catch on to the game, and the elements of suspense and repetition don’t deter it from feeling a bit too long at a running time of 20 minutes.
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The New Works Festival at On the Boards, which started last weekend and continues Friday-Sunday (June 11-13), highlights some of Seattle's finest choreographers.
By Spider Kedelsky
Never again will I look at the catwalk in a fashion show and not think of the short chunky guy in the Utilikilt and high heels, or the tall guy wearing plaid golf pants and a tiny orange watch cap perched on his shaved head. They and 10 other men and women of various sizes, shapes and colors, some trained dancers and some not, appeared in Mark Haim’s “This Land is Your Land,” the clever and droll piece that was the highlight of the first weekend of mainstage performances at On the Boards’ annual Northwest New Works Festival.
An experienced choreographer with wide-ranging interests, Haim here exercised his campy side to the max in this funny send-up of fashionistas, body perceptions, sexual identity, and America’s consumption culture. He is credited in the program with the “concept” rather than the choreography, and though this work was the least dancey of the four premieres on the evening’s program, in structure and form it had the surest hand guiding it.
Five or six on stage at a time, the performers parade their stuff towards the audience and back, always in front of a brightly colored screen, each with a lidded coffee cup in hand. One by one they exit around the left side of the screen only to return from the other side a few minutes later in slightly altered or completely different attire.
As they exit, the performers drop their cups in a large, clear trash basket. Over time their walks get more exaggerated, sometimes with skipping and other variations. One can assume this is the result of caffeine overdoses.
The performers eventually fill the garbage with all sorts of drink cups, and change costumes and accessories many times from informal street wear, to formal dress, to men in drag, to completely undressed for a bit, to underwear, and finally everyone in basic black, with the ultimate chic accessories — handguns and Uzis.
The dance works well for two reasons. First the simple premise of the repetitive runway walk, a bit like the phase patterning of early Steve Reich music — slight overlapping variations that shift everything over time — all done to the constant beat of a medley of country and western songs.
Second is the dynamic balance Haim creates between the known and the unknown, leading to dramatic uncertainty and anticipation, and lots of fun. The next performer is going to enter from behind the screen but which will it be? We know she or he will have some costume change, but what will each be wearing or carrying, and what will their mannered walk be? We know they’ll drop their cups in the garbage upon exiting, but will they miss, and what happens when the can gets full?
All of the performers have individualized expressions and walks that make me think they studied the zomboid looks and exaggerated struts of real runway models, perhaps also with quick perusals of a video of Monty Python’s famed “Ministry of Silly Walks” sketch. They are all fearless in their dogged repetitions whether clothed or not, and they together make a wonderful and oddly matched ensemble.
If there was a shortcoming to the dance, it was that we catch on to the game, and the elements of suspense and repetition don’t deter it from feeling a bit too long at a running time of 20 minutes.
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