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1. Expansive Mayhem

   The interpretive dance performance seeks to evoke the experience of a concussion and does so by clustering six dancers on a side of the stage using red lighting to suggest a sense of the inside of the speaker’s head. When the dancers are clustered, swaying semi-coherently, they evoke the sense of a brain function normally, but as the piece progresses it begins to unravel, as the dancers spiral out of control. Their disjointed movements as they each dance on their own, spread around the stage mimics the cognitive impact of a concussion, echoed by the language hovering over them. The dance performance concludes by returning to normal function, urgently, as one of the dancers runs around the reorganized collective, as if trying to hold them together by sheer force of will as the screen and stage fade to black, leading us to wonder. Has the brain been healed? Has normal language function returned?

   “Expansive Mayhem”
   Choreography: Julia Tedesco and Ellie Sanna
   Poetry: Loss Pequeño Glazier (“Io Sono At Swoons “)
   Music: Jai Uttal and Ben Leinbach
   Dancers: Melissa Hunt, Marika Matsuzak, Stephanie Ohman, Sammi Pfieffer, Samantha Will, Jessica Viglianco

   Hannelen Leirvåg - 28.04.2013 - 18:38

2. Etymon / Encarnación

   The opening performance in “Language to Cover a Wall” is about the word made flesh: Glazier reads his poem “Etymon / Encarnación” while a young woman dances to the rhythms of his voice. The words juxtaposed in the title both gesture towards primeval origins of language: etymon refers to the origins of words, while encarnación is about the immaterial gaining a body. And we can’t help but notice the bodies on stage: Glazier sitting in a chair, reading his poem engrossed in the words on the page, gently swaying like José Feliciano. The contrast of a young female dancer in a white dress, interpreting lines of sounded breath with her body, bending her articulations with an agility matched only by the poet’s vocal articulation of the poem.

   Poetry: Loss Pequeño Glazier (“Etymon / Encarnación”)
   Dancer: Sarah Burns

   (Source: Leonardo Flores, I ♥ E-Poetry)

   Hannelen Leirvåg - 03.05.2013 - 16:58

3. The World As Yours

   This performance is about circularity: counterclockwise rotation of letters and words around a central axis on screen, dancers enacting different kinds of spins and gyrating movements focused around a globe. Each concentric line rotates at different speeds, aligning the letters from different lines to generate intriguing combinations. As the performance progresses, the word rotation gradually speeds up until the words become a rapid stream, suggesting an acceleration of time. The dancer’s movements speed up as well, as their playful interactions with the globe become increasingly frantic yet gentle, much like the music by The Kronos Quartet.

   Choreography: Kerry Ring
   Poetry: Loss Pequeño Glazier
   Music: “White Man Sleeps” composed by Kevin Volans,
   Performed by The Kronos Quartet
   Dancers: Julia Tedesco, Ellie Sanna, Meghan Starnes

   (Source: Leonardo Flores, I ♥ E-Poetry)

   Hannelen Leirvåg - 03.05.2013 - 17:09

4. Do Not Forget It

   This performance of Alferi’s 2002 cinépoème “Ne l’oublié pas” arranges three lines of poetry that change at different rates (the last one doesn’t change) to create different phrase combinations that lead to the same conclusion. The result appears to be combinatorial, but because the medium is video, there is actually an unvarying sequence, so it evokes how a multiplicity of experiences and rapid sensory information enters the frail storage medium that is memory.

   The dancers move in ways that evoke the process of creating memories and attempting to keep them. Their dance leads to poses and pauses, some of which contain reminders of where thoughts are stored. The use of a lead dancer is an important strategy in the performance underscores an intuition to be found in Alferi’s video poem: that variation is memorable. Note how with her distinct costume and dance, framed by the other dancers moving in recurring poses, the lead dancer captures and commands attention, pulling together the fragmented performances into a coherent experience.

   Hannelen Leirvåg - 03.05.2013 - 17:16

5. Bindings

   This powerfully expressive nonverbal poem builds on the title, with the dancers’ actions and movements in front of a video produced by Jhave. The first meaning of bindings is clear as the dancers come on stage boung by strips of fabric or are bound by other dancers. This act is portrayed in different ways— forcefully, gently, voluntarily, but never cruelly— yet the soft materials seem very effective in handicapping the dancers, who continue to dance oddly, as if exploring their new bodily conditions. As the piece progresses they are all freed, yet this seems to bring no solace to their bodies, which continue moving awkwardly.

   Choreography: Brianna Jahn
   Poetry: Jhave
   Dancers: Kate Kenyon, Ashley Peters, Holli Simme, Samantha Will

   (Source: Leonardo Flores, I ♥ E-Poetry)

   Hannelen Leirvåg - 03.05.2013 - 17:21