Northwest New Works, Week 2: The Mainstage Showcase
The Offshore Project. Photo by Sean M. Johnson
Last weekend On the Boards hosted the second half of their Northwest New Works Festival, an annual event now in its 27th year. With sixteen short performances in all, NWNW allows local and regional artists to premiere new, original works in dance, music, and performance theatre.
The Offshore Project, The Buffoon. This piece distinctly feels like it's telling a story, but it’s not clear quite what that is. It has characters (a quartet of four dancers, plus said buffoon), costumes (lovely fur-and-sport coat variations), and a setting (a distinguished sitting room), a soundtrack (a five-piece jazz band, situated not-quite-in, not-quite-out of the action).
Inspired by the Edward Gorey book The Doubtful Guest, co-Artistic Directors Ezra Dickinson and Rainbow Fletcher gleaned plenty from the tale’s tone and imagery. They’ve created a great look and ambience: mildly directionless, angular movement, distinguished when contrasted with the childish clowning of the buffoon, punctuated by the thrum-thrum-thrum of the bass. They’ve layered on additional clownish, balancing elements: the buffoon crawling in and around an armchair, or perched like a teacup on the table.
They’ve also borrowed the bones of Gorey’s plot (an upper-class family contends with a strange visitor). Yet The Buffoon’s odd, open-ended craftsmanship ends up being more obstructive than immersive.
Listen to Ezra and Rainbow talk with Cherdonna and Lou about the difficulties of collaboration here.
Lingo, Embracing the Inevitable. KT Niehoff, dancing a duet with Alia Swersky, also brings a distinct look and feel to her work. This singularity, though, is achieved solely with movement; it’s liquid, rolling, loose; the embodiment of possession, maybe, or a waning sense of control.
It’s a stark piece: two dancers moving across the stage, stepping in and out of synchronization. Niehoff and Swersky dance like two versions of the same body, perfectly mirroring the frame-shifting, pulsing stylings of Niehoff’s choreography. But when it came to timing in synchronization, Swersky at times was a half-beat behind - a distraction during an otherwise smooth presentation.
This was an easy, relaxing work: hypnotic, and soothing to watch.
Listen to KT and Paul Budraitis make each other’s acquaintance here.
Corrie Befort, Cut Chalk. This piece has sort of a schoolyard vibe, or rather, implies social interaction in a schoolyard setting: the title; the casual, pedestrian feel; the metal chairs; the group division and formations; the hooded, moody girl in black warbling alone into the microphone.
The backbone of the piece is formed from its middle section, which includes six dancers offset by a “music ensemble”, whose members slap their hands, knees, thighs to create a patterned beat (it would be divisible as boy vs. girl, except there’s one female member percussionist). The whole thing has a bit of a West Side Story vibe, with its wary, combative back-and-forths. You sense that, with one misstep, the whole thing could go real bad, real quick. We feel kind of like a fifth-grade teacher calling a dance concept “creative”, but there you have it. Well done.
Cut Chalk’s center is bookended by much more somber sections: said unsettling singer, and a slow, meandering solo.
Listen to Corrie Befort and members of The Mint Collective interview each other here.
Laara Garcia/Pseudopod Interactive, Sakura Rising. Well this was fun! Pretty much from the get-go, we stopped with the note-taking, so we could relax and completely enjoy ourselves.
And enjoy ourselves we did. Sakura Rising is a video game, with six dancer “characters” and two “players” sitting off to the side, employing the delightfully recognizable male/female gamer dynamic. The program had a lengthy description of the Sakura legend - not necessary, but useful to show how much thought and depth creator/director Laara Garcia put into her piece.
With equal elements of caricature, martial arts & Mortal Kombat, and sophisticated graphic design, Sakura Rising was completely well done and completely fun; serious in its construction but never taking itself too seriously, it made for an excellent closer to the festival.
Listen to Laara Garcia and The Satori Group's Adam Standley and talk about ensemble collaboration here.
