Manifold Motion's Under Interesting, but Lacking Depth

There was a moment during Manifold Motion’s new show, Under, when we suddenly glimpsed its unrealized potential. It was in the third act of the immersive installation performance, and we were drowsy from the smell of dirt, which had been spread thickly across the dance floor. A dancer entered through the doorway, her body held at a peculiar angle. Hoisting her doily-splattered parasol high, she advanced in slow jerks, her hips thrust forward, her hoop skirt swaying. The soundscore droned in the background. Briefly, in this moment, we were held captive by this triad of sight and sound and smell, fully drawn into Under.

But we struggled through the rest of the show.

Keely Isaak Meehan, artistic director of the multidisciplinary performance company, has installed Under at Inscape, the former Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) building in the International District. "We are working with the inspiration of lichens, fungi, mosses, and molds. That whole world of small organisms that creep into the undergrowth of the forest and unused man-made spaces,” Meehan tells TheSunBreak. “One of the most important things to us was that this show would be a world people could be immersed in.”

Under, sectioned out in three acts, spreads this world out it as many rooms, the audience traveling to each with the guidance of “The Moldy Minstrel.” Moss and mold effects are cleverly realized with clumpings of doilies and nylons and dirt and clay. The audience, entering, awakens the sleeping sprites languishing in this world: nestled within the roots of a tree, hidden in a rotting log, brooding on the floor of the forest. The dancers begin to move, and the darker themes of “decay, disease, and perseverance” begin to crescendo - there’s shivering, jerking, climbing, gyrating, falling, fighting. In its employment of movement, though, is where Under begins to falter.

In the context of the world created by Meehan and her crew, the movement felt limited, lacking even. There are vignettes that use practiced improv, where others are more cleanly choreographed, but overall we were unimpressed with the range of material related to the subject matter. Under is meant to be moody and atmospheric, awkward even, but the reliance on certain types of movement - like gyration or tugging or flinging - is even less interesting the longer it’s drawn out. In the second act, for example, the scene is wonderfully set (we scribbled down the words “buzzing” and “scuttling”), but the soloist’s repetitive staring, hunching and preening become tiresome after ten minutes - and the piece goes on for twice as long.

In last year’s Woolgatherer, Manifold Motion wisely filled out their limited movement range with a stupendous display of multimedia performance. Their creativity may have been confined this time by the Inscape space, but Under still serves to highlight the company's shortcomings, instead of playing up their strengths.

Through November 28, every Friday, Saturday, Sunday // Inscape Arts Center, 815 Airport Way South // tickets sliding scale, $18 suggested.

After the last show on November 20, & 28, join the artists for drinks at a special reception to benefit Manifold Motion.