Sarah Michelson: A Deep, Loving Argument Through Dance

Sarah Michelson has devoted the better part of her career to "work that risks rejection based on its aesthetics." And a good thing, too. For the past ten years, Michelson has dedicated herself to producing impressive shows at The Kitchen in New York City and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Unfortunately, she disdains any writing about her dance pieces and this is a pity because it denies audiences outside of New York a true measure of her status as one of the country's most eminent and exciting choreographers. It would be sinful to remain silent about such a brilliant artist, and therefore I will politely disagree with her stance toward writing, because her most recent show will provide, I think, a perfect entry point for a new audience, even those who are not traditionally drawn to dance.

Her newest piece, the collaboration with playwright Richard Maxwell, entitled Devotion is a narrative work based loosely upon Biblical stories as well as Maxwell's personal diaries. As a dance, it relies upon an extremely minimal vocabulary of light and movement that has its roots in Merce Cunningham's work, Lucinda Childs' operatic pieces and Twyla Tharp's multimedia explorations. What makes the work so completely appealing is how far she has pushed dance stagecraft into the realm of the theatrical. Where Cunningham and Tharp often showed an interest in the use of digital screens, sculpture and non-theatrical media in a dance context, Michelson's work goes even farther. Her sense of theatricality extends the stage itself to the seats in the audience, the foyer of the auditorium, the facade of the building, and for her last show in Seattle, the notorious Daylight, even the parking lot across the street. This immersive environment is perfect for a new audience comprised of lovers of pure movement and minimalist choreography, but also those whose interests lie in urban design, applied graphics, sculpture, theater, even the minimalist music of Philip Glass, whose Dance IX is a part of the evening's soundtrack.

At first glance a collaboration with Richard Maxwell might seem counterintuitive. Michelson's interests in theatrical space tend increasingly toward the rococo, while Maxwell's scripts are about as untheatrical as drama gets. Yet both are deeply interested in the artificiality of performance. Michelson is additive; Maxwell is subtractive. But their goals are similar: to explore the limits of "performance" and "reality."

Devotion portends to be an intriguing piece. It should remind Seattleites who are familiar with her work of her brilliance, and introduce those who have never seen her work before to one of the major dance and theater artists working anywhere in the world. "I am in a deep, loving argument with myself and with my community of peers about how to honor the form of dance in our time," Michelson has said. Devotion will offer a fine opportunity to engage that argument and carry it home long after the show has ended.

March 10-13 // On the Boards, 100 W Roy St // Tickets $25, available from On the Boards.