Review: WAITING / REX at ISHIDA

ISHIDA DANCE had a world premiere on June 11th with their presentation of waiting / REX at the Asia Society Texas Center. It will play in Houston through June 14th and then move to Austin on the 18th and run through the 20th at the Dell Fine Arts Center. This program is an adaptation of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both are choreographed by the company’s artistic director, Brett Ishida, and are accompanied with music composed by Owen Belton. The presentation continues the tradition of ISHIDA DANCE by combining a sense of the literary and the lyrical, text and texture, if you will. Though Godot and Rex may seem very different stories, Brett Ishida has linked them through faith and fate, bringing out the natural physicality inherent in both narratives. 

The first number performed is waiting, and it is a duet with Alexandr Veselý as Estragon and Tiemen Stemerding playing Vladimir. It’s so joyous to see these two communicate their own inertia not through the idiosyncratic dialogue of Beckett, but through their bodies, through these two powerful dancers. The shapes and lines they create are mind-blowing. There are times when they sit together, but are completely suspended by the other, giving the dance a stasis that dialogue could never get to. It’s truly ingenious, both narratively and as a work of movement art. We never see the other characters in Godot, but there is a charming appearance by a Little Girl, played by Genevieve Zilkha. She represents the messenger of the written play, and comes in to show Vladimir and Estragon words on paper that she has colored. I almost imagined her as a representation of a younger Brett Ishida communicating with one of her favorite texts. Genevieve is a joy to watch as she gracefully halts the motion for a minute and then skips off into the shadows. The men are not moving, but the little girl is free to come in and out as she pleases. The men are not so lucky and are trapped by their own inertia, which you feel through their staccato movement. 

The second segment is the retelling of Oedipus, who is destined to kill his father and marry his mother. It’s a fate he tries to avoid, but ends up fulfilling in wild ways, and the choreography here has a mythical quality that is broader than the first part of the evening. It’s fiery, emotional, and tragically large. Remy Feldbruegge makes a terrific Rex; he is spry and regal all at once. His athleticism shines in Brett Ishida’s choreography. Helen Clare Kinney is striking as Jacosta, both physically and in her dance vocabulary. She hits all the notes of royalty and regret through her movements, and it is so amazing to see her, for the first time, dancing in her home state after years abroad. Thomas Martino is breathtaking as the Messenger, almost an angelic force, light, and above the pull of gravity and fate. Alice Del Frate gives an animalistic prowess to her Sphinx, and it is easily one of the highlights of the evening’s program. The rest of the ISHIDA company appears in this piece, and it is truly a moving and stirring Greek tragedy presented through dance. 

Owen Belton has written the accompaniment for both pieces, and his work is next-level. He captures the weird, funny repetition of Beckett with quirky synthesizers, and then unleashes all the regalness of Rex with live classical musicians onstage. His instincts are always impeccable, and I wish there were soundtracks sold in the lobby, because I would be first in line. Ishida’s other technical elements, such as lighting, sets, and costumes, are spot-on and well-crafted.