Review: Mark Morris Dance Group's MOON

The Mark Morris Dance Group returned to the Kennedy Center this week for two nights of performances of Moon, a new work created for the Center’s Earth to Space festival which runs through April 20. 

Moon is classic Morris; full of whimsy and also weirdness. Set to mostly popular music, this piece for nine dancers also uses photo stills of the moon, video and animation, live double bass, organ and piano as well audio from NASA’s Golden Record, which is a series of greetings and messages from “earthlings” that was tossed into space in 1977. The dancers wore chic black and white rompers, slightly reminiscent of NASA jumpsuits in their drape and stiff material, designed by the great Isaac Mizrahi. The stage was also adorned with miniature statues of a moon walker, silver foot-tall astronauts that the dancers moved into different arrangements across the stage during the piece. 

At the center of Moon is communication, principally between couples, and our human desire to be understood or, at least, accepted. The Golden Record greetings amplify this theme, but the choreographic gestures for seeing and hearing and emphasis on couples dancing would have been enough. 

The movement vocabulary also explores weight shifting to a dramatic degree. Dancers are intentionally pulled off balance by dégagés with pushed-out hips, causing the dancer to fall forward into the next move. Like the tides pulling the ocean, the dancers’ steps are continually manipulated by the sway the moon holds, from deep backbends to the lilting pace of runs around the stage. 

The dancers responded with genuine joy, gliding across the stage on rolling stools, orbiting around waltzing couples and bouncing up and down like rockets. It’s fun and you feel the fun they’re having. Karlie Budge exuded warmth and pluck during Friday’s performance, while Joslin Vezeau brought serenity and some stunning attitude turns to the final movement. Overall the Company danced beautifully, harmoniously gliding by - and sometimes into - each other like the movement of celestial bodies. 

Moon runs for three performances, concluding Saturday evening, April 5, at 8pm. 

Runtime: 55 minutes

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