Review: PARTINGS: DANCES OF LETTING GO at Cafritz Hall

“Partings: Dances of Letting Go” is a collection of emotional works about loss, grief, and growth. This production was well attended by a diverse audience, and there was a warm feeling of community support for the performing artists and directors.

The first piece, “Together/Alone, Section 4: A Place of Healing” by Claytor Company included exclamative dialogue and classic pyramid formations. Each individual told their own story of tragic loss through personal, highly expressive gesture and facial expression. 

The second piece, “Connective Tissue,” by Gestalt Dance, featured two dancers, each wearing a long wire bandaged to one arm. To me, they appeared to be enacting the story of mother and daughter exploring the boundaries and meaning of their relationship. When the dancers embraced each other, the electrical circuit in the wires would close, and the music would stop. Kudos to Brian Davis for this concept and sound composition, as the addition of a sonic layer to the generational and spatial relationship between the performers contributed significantly to the gravity of the work.

Third, we saw “Fiddleheads,” by Human Landscape Dance. Contact improvisation-informed choreography was set to an intense operatic psalm in Latin. The contrast of the piercing vocals with the calm and controlled weight sharing of the two performers was fascinating, like watching plants grow in slow motion.

Fourth, we saw what I can honestly describe as true interpretive dance. To a recorded reading of a passage from an autobiography by Jill Bolte Taylor, performer Joan Galaver mimed the story of having and recovering from a stroke. “The We Inside” by Aura CuriAtlas Physical Theater concluded to enthusiastic applause.

Finally, Human Landscape Dance performed “Emerging,” a lower-intensity but still contact improvisational work of four dancers. It was enjoyable to watch many satisfying shapes and patterns cascade into each other through a steady, equal rhythm.

Overall, this show was emotional, personal, and expressive. I left having released a bit of tension from my body, knowing that through the ups and downs of being human, we will always have each other.