An evening of dance

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

By Johnny Ocean

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Ahoy mates! It was a cold and wet Friday night in Jackson Hole, June 11. I was growing quite weary of the drunken ramblings and folksy homespun witticisms of the Four Seasons Bar crowd. With all hope for an evening of cultural significance fading, my eye caught an advertisement for Live Experiments, a contemporary dance performance by Jackson’s Contemporary Dance Wyoming.

Mere minutes to showtime, speed was of the essence. My newly rebuilt Aston Martin V-8 made short work of the wet curves on Wilson Road. I arrived at the conclusion of the first dance and slipped into my seat unnoticed. No small feat, for the arrival of an Ocean at any event of social significance often causes a stir among the paparazzi. “The Mechanics of Enlightenment” began, fittingly enough, with a troupe of dancers in blue mechanics’ overalls. Erie fluorescent lights cast a Blade Runner-esque glow across the floor as the dancers embarked on a series of austere and automated gyrations.

Like much of the postmodern sensibility in modern dance, the piece embraced the nonlinear dichotomy of literary deconstruction. The dancers sprung across the stage like cybertronic sirens, intently and inexorably driven towards an anti-climax. I say Bravo! It was a bold stroke against the repressive confines of the classical movement and ultimately a reaffirmation of amorphous gender roles.

The next few performances, such as “Boom Boom,” were a pleasing swirl of color, sound and motion. Intermission arrived and I retired to the lobby for a long overdue libation. I must say the Center for The Arts’ wine selection was an affront to the sensibilities of any refined palette. Forced to choose between a cabernet and a merlot, I chose the former – barbaric concoction with not so subtle undertones of battery acid, cough syrup, drain cleaner and chocolate.

The intermission ran its course and a piece, titled “The Cheese Stands Alone,” by Ludwig Dance Theatre began. Though the choreography was of the same exceptional quality, I found the child’s voiceover narrative to be particularly didactic. I also question the use of domestic Swiss in the performance. I feel that a semi-soft cheese would have been a more appropriate choice and I hope that the Arizona-based dance troupe will consider mahon or Port Salut in future performances.

The performance concluded with a rousing ode to the body en motion, titled “Come Together.” Dancers clad in rather minimalist skintight black jumpers, strutted to the beat of “St Germain.” Knowing Wyoming all too well, I fear that my adulation for the postmodern will encourage few people to attend a Dancers’ Workshop performance, and might actually hurt attendance. But if I say that “with eight dancers on stage there were 16 flawless legs in action,” it might encourage some of the less cultured to attend a performance. Alas, we are all ultimately a product of our era of objectification. And I laude Dancers’ Workshop for successfully deconstructing the object through motion.

I found myself inspired, to attend one of Dancers’ Workshop’s ongoing summer dance classes. And I exhort the residents of Jackson not to waste their summer in idle frolicking, but to appreciate and participate in the performing arts.  JHW

Johnny Ocean is … well … columnist and local artist Aaron Wallis.

photo by ZAC ROSSER
Four dancers, but only seven flawless legs?

PERMALINK:
An evening of dance | Planet JH News Article: Arts Beat

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