ODC Summer Dance Festival
Sunday, August 18, 2024 Matinee
Two Dance Events: Different Perspectives
In my long history of attending dance events, I have pleasant memories of receiving a paper program, learning something about the event and waiting, well-informed, for the curtain up, the lights down. Now, with clever assistance and cell phone, the information appears on the screen held in one’s hand. There’s always too much to read and then…the show starts.
The first event of the Sunday matinee of ODC’s Summer Dance Festival was an extended solo by Jenna Varvara. Varvara is a response to both Alexander Rodchenko’s photograph “PerformingFurniture,” which features his artistic collaborator and life partner Varvara Stepanova, and to Stepanova’s body of creative work. One of the prominent Russian Constructivist artists, Stepanova’s endeavors included textiles, visual poetry, costumes, and set designs. Soviet theater critic Konstantin Rudnitsky wrote, “The human body was perceived as a machine: man had to learn to control that machine.” It was the theatre’s function to demonstrate the fine-tuning of the human ‘mechanisms.’”
So we see the dancer encountering a variety of stage set pieces and costumes which she can successfully maneuver, climb, touch and handle along with an extensive movement vocabulary. She is very successful and deliberate in all this. Finally, reduced to her basic underwear, she rests…and begins again. Varvara îs an extremely powerful performer; her skill is excellent and well executed. But, alas, it is all too much (at least for this member of the audience). She is to be admired, applauded and remembered for this dimension and intention, but the event is too long and somehow it is not extended to the audience. It is as if she is dancing for herself and the constructive ideas.
Then, at the other extreme. Charles Slender White with “Half-Time, Full Out”. The dancers move together, much like a cheer-leading squad, breaking formation only occasionally to go behind a set piece to change costumes. The costumes also reflect the ‘team’ nature of this event; they are bright blue, red and occasionally gold …. and they all wear blue socks! Rah,Rah! The dancers are technically excellent and their ensemble ability is superb. As we accept the solo performer for her commitment and aesthetic, we stand and cheer for “Half-Time, Full Out”