Review: Trisha Brown Dance Company Presents Its First Choreographic Commission at The Joyce Theater

What does it take to keep a dance legacy alive? Trisha Brown Dance Company has been flourishing for over 50 years, equally celebrating Brown's original works and connecting new contemporary artistic voices to her foundational expression. Brown always utilized movement investigation to create when leading her company, finding the extraordinary in everyday humanity and life. Carolyn Lucas, current Associate Artistic Director, is teaching and documenting Brown's work for the Trisha Brown Archive in addition to directing the company after Brown's passing (2017). Trisha Brown Dance Company's season at The Joyce Theater pays tribute to Brown's collaboration with composer Alvin Curran with two focal pieces, For M.G.: The Movie (1991) and Rogues (2011). Closing the evening presents a brand-new world premiere of Trisha Brown Dance Company's first ever choreographic commission Let's talk about bleeding by Cuban-born artist and former TBDC dancer Judith Sánchez Ruíz. Bridging old and new artistic point of view, watching the triple bill program is like experiencing a company timeline, indulging in how TBDC's work has progressed, changed, and inspired.

Opening the curtain begins Trisha Brown's work Rogues, a rhythmic duet with dancers Cecily Campbell and Burr Johnson. "The duet's simple form marks a return to Brown's exploration of unembellished gesture and pedestrian physicality and is a testament to the pleasure of surprise found throughout Brown's body of work," states the program. With electronic and harmonica sounds created by Curran, both dancers breathe and extend with soft flexibility into ever-twisting dimension. As ascending notes of accordion and horns flood throughout the theater, Campbell and Johnson appear synchronously vulnerable and fluid. Near Beasley, TBDC alum, reflects on the collaborative process for Rogues between Brown, Carolyn Lucas, Lee Serle, and himself. "What emerged through the process was an interest in interruption or aberration," says Beasley. "...Whenever we found our physicality revving up, we returned to our original impetus of softness, trying to let the phrase 'empty out' before gathering momentum and rhythmic complexity again." Between the playfulness of falling in and out of unison are choreographic surprises, melding sudden jolts of parallel lines with smooth notes composed by Curran.

For M.G.: The Movie is the second piece of a cycle of work called "Back to Zero," a series of works exploring the idea of unconscious movement. The work signifies an evocative memorial to Michel Guy, the French Minister of Culture and first director of the annual Festival d'Automne à Paris. "Set to Curran's discordant score, the guiding principles for this choreography are enigma and time - not measured time - but the perception of time and its inconsistency," states the program. As the curtain opens, exposed brick covered with billowing smoke appears, rolling over beams of bright yellow and blue light. Spencer James Weidie jogs towards the audience in a cream orange unitard, unbothered by the fourth wall. Sound effects of metal clicks begin as Weidie performs relentless semicircles, sculpting the floor geometrically as he runs in distinct, repetitive patterns. Between wobbling and sustained balances stand two other dancers stage right in profile, facing upstage standing completely still and silent. Jennifer Payán performs a standout solo with ultimate control, spurts of quirkiness, and lustrous balance. Throughout the score is original music For M.G. (One Step Too), with hauntingly floating piano notes, vocal and mechanical sound effects, and windows of silence, drawing the eye into the geometric movement and detail.

Concluding the evening is Ruiz's Let's Talk About Bleeding, with musical direction and composition by Adonis Gonzalez. "Plac[ing] Brown's body of work in dialogue with contemporary artistic voices," Ruiz's work is a vocal, jolting, and thought-provoking mix of group work and dynamic solos. In between rambunctious breakouts are interlacing subtleties in gesture and facings; every dancer holds a strong sense of curiosity. Let's Talk About Bleeding, "...is a very personal piece exploring movement that is raw, uninhibited, and deeply liberating while also grounded in the architecture of form," states the program. "The six dancers blend like a symphony of layers with each dancer representing different expressions that overlap one another." There are strong, repetitive lifts as much as there are lifeless legs and eerily still floor positions. As much as the dancers appear curious, they lack eye contact with the audience, maintaining a fourth wall abstinence. At a certain point the dancers become vocal with short, overlaying phrases such as, "tiny, tiny body" and "get over it." In collaboration with every artist involved, Ruiz utilizes a push pull of momentum, layering group manipulation and stillness with distorted rippling domino effects and interconnected pretzels. Adding a wow factor is pianist, composer, and conductor Adonis Gonzalez-Matos's beautiful, furious work live on the piano downstage right. His fingers create magic on the keyboard, carrying the sound score of the work. As the curtain closes, Gonzalez-Matos's playing intensifies, to slowly fade into darkness as he hits the last note.

Brown's work and collaborations are inherently kinesthetic, and there is admiration to be acknowledged in the way she turned regular, everyday moments into newfound stylistic choices. As the TBDC dancers perform, Brown's presence is felt: in the movement, sensation, and her powerful legacy.

For more information and tickets, visit https://www.joyce.org/performances/trisha-brown-dance-company

Founding Artistic Director & Choreographer: Trisha Brown

Associate Artistic Director: Carolyn Lucas

Assistant Rehearsal Director: Cecily Campbell

Choreography by: Trisha Brown, Judith Sánchez Ruíz

Dancers: Christian Allen, Cecily Campbell, Lindsey Jones, Burr Johnson, Cynthia Koppe, Patrick Needham, Jennifer Payán, Spencer James Weidie

Photo Credits: Stephanie Berger

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