When I went to the Clarence Brown Theatre to see Go! Contemporary Dance Works’ new production “New Territories” earlier this month, I wasn’t sure what to expect.
I haven’t written about non-professional child performers in more than 20 years. The kids took it in stride when I said they did well, or didn’t. But parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents were less understanding if I said their young one wasn’t very good. So, to ease their anxieties and reduce my stress, I stopped writing about children.
After all, some children study performing arts because that’s what their parents want them to do. Some get involved because their friends are. Some seriously want to expand the capabilities of their personal worlds. A few do it because of dreams of becoming a professional, whether it’s gymnastics, dancing, acting, music or art.
Dancing, in particular, is difficult to do well. It isn’t easy to get one’s body to do exactly what it should do, especially when it’s continually changing.
When the show began, I saw the kinds of things I expected. The dancers, all girls, moved well, usually in perfect time with the music. But there was also those extra little shifting of ankles to keep one’s balance after the movement stopped and arm movements that were not quite in sync in ensemble pieces.
In the ordinary world, none of these things matter. In dance, they are the difference in being captivated by visual expressions of the music and distractions.
The task of the dancer is to disappear as a person, transforming into another kind of being that magically draws lines space and morphs from one shape to another. A mistake causes the real person to snap back into view, breaking the spell.
To my surprise and delight, I also saw several works of creative and powerful choreography, most of it by Go! artistic director Lisa Hall McKee.
“Lines in a Page,” set to Max Richter’s reimaging of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and music by Rachmaninoff, tried to tell a story, but the pages of script kept getting scattered around. It was an inventive look at quick shifts in a narrative that don’t always add up.
“Fragmented Absolution,” choreographed by Marlayna Locklear and set to the music of Ryan Teague, had movements that reflected the title. It may have been the best danced piece of the afternoon.
“Monet’s Lilies,” choreographed by Laura Shields and set to music of Jean-Michel Blais, was danced in ballerina’s toe-shoes, on point. It was graceful and lovely with images that reminded of Degas’ ballet dancers.
Micah McKee, with Go! Contemporary Dance’s choreographer and artistic director Lisa Hall McKee.
But the showstopper of the concert and the proof that McKee is both a very good dance teacher and an exceptional choreographer was “Walls Between Breaths.”
Based on a study of lupus patients called “Spoon Theory,” by Christine Miserandino, the choreography extends Miserandino’s concept that a lupus patient begins each day with only enough energy to fill 12 spoons. When all of them are empty, the patient’s day is over, no matter what time of day it is.
It was dedicated to McKee’s sister Kristy Campbell, a lupus patient.
The piece was gorgeously and meaningfully executed. It began with principal dancer Micah McKee as the patient. She enters pulling a tangle of medical plastic tubing, the type used for oxygen, IV’s, feeding tubes and a complexity of other clinical used. The other dancers also have oxygen tubes.
At the back of the set is a rack of oversized spoons that are removed one by one. Slowly, the patient’s energy is drained away.
Watching it, especially with McKee assisting the patient at the end, was a moving experience.