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\nJune 2, 2006
\nAloha on the Hudson
\nBy LORI ORTIZ<\/p>\n
\nJune 2, 2006
\nAloha on the Hudson
\nBy LORI ORTIZ<\/p>\n
Caron Eule presents varied evening of dance that begins and ends on Waikiki.<\/p>\n
Hula is the reigning style in choreographer Caron Eule\u2019s \u201cClean Springing 3.\u201d The result is warm, welcoming, exuberant and just a bit clich\u00e9.<\/p>\n
The performance at Cunningham Studios in the West Village on May 22 transported us without admitting a shred of irony. If there is any doubt in the dancers smiles, it\u2019s barely perceptible. They can\u2019t be serious.<\/p>\n
But why ask and spoil the fun of an evening out with these excellent dancers and musicians?<\/p>\n
The full, mixed, though still largely white, cast accumulates on the scene, waving hips and arms in grass skirts and bikini tops to a recording of Ray Kinney\u2019s \u201cHula Hands.\u201d A wave of men in the same outfits is the special attraction. Finally all gather into a formation suggestive of a volcano with the nine-year-old Bridget Clark held up at its peak. Live and lilting scat by Louise Rogers, composer Jon Diaz and Mathias Kunzli drives home the point in the interlude of music that follows.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuite Brazil\u201d begins breezily with a \u201cMorning\u201d romance around a clothesline draped with colored scarves. Young love is followed by cruel reality in a memorable \u201cEvening\u201d bar scene. Alexa Weir is the cocktail waitress who strikes up a movement conversation with patron Cornelius Brown. It sours though and Weir cowers on the floor as Brown walks off, puffed out and chuckling coldly with a mate. \u201cAfter Hours\u201d brings us to the day\u2019s close in this cohesive suite of four acts.<\/p>\n
Eule\u2019s version of \u201cL\u2019Chaim,\u201d premiered in 1996, is anything but celebratory. Hers is a Holocaust remembrance that\u2019s dramatic in the tradition of Martha Graham. Wier, Erin Hunter and Faith Hunter are a family struggling to stay together. The long bench, sometimes standing on its end like a monument, recalls a Noguchi prop. In this new version with fiddle, Colin Jacobson plays excellently, with a stage presence that feels essential.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re treated to New York City Ballet dancer Melissa Barak\u2019s \u201cMusiqawi\/Wezewazay\u201d with a live performance of traditional Ethiopian music. To this riveting music, Barak improvises with her hands. She repeats several angular movements, providing some structure. Her musical and spirited performance is never coy and thus full of believable integrity. One hopes she will find the time to develop this project.<\/p>\n
\u201cFace 2 Face\u201d is Eule\u2019s new piece, a slapstick vision of confused body parts. Eyes, nose and mouth are cut and pasted onto breasts, navels and butts or thighs respectively. The dancers rise three high in totems. This construction is performed to original music by Jeremy Kasha and includes laugh tracks. It\u2019s highly entertaining, sexy and fun.<\/p>\n
If this is not enough to transport the audience, what more can be done with a simple concept?<\/p>\n
\u201cNocturne\u201d achieves successful musicality as dancers in romantic dress sit on a piano bench, moving as if they are emanations of the Chopin classic. In \u201cSpiral Songs,\u201d Melissa Morrissey, on toe, drapes herself over a violinist struggling to play. Should we laugh or cry as the gorgeous dancing and spectacular quartet of strings cancel each other out?<\/p>\n
The ponderous mood is lifted in the spell of a \u201cHula Reprise.\u201d All the dancing is superb and Tony Marques\u2019s lighting adds nuance to Eule\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
The unusual and varied music somehow holds together as an evening\u2019s entertainment. Eule bills her company\u2019s work as dancing for new audiences 101. The company is also something of an experimental petri dish, yet one that consistently delivers good clean fun. Talented dancers and musicians engage their adoring and returning crowds with visceral magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
June 2, 2006 Aloha on the Hudson By LORI ORTIZ Caron Eule presents varied evening of dance that begins and ends on Waikiki. Hula is the reigning style in choreographer Caron Eule\u2019s \u201cClean Springing 3.\u201d The result is warm, welcoming, … Continue reading