Dance/Hartwell at SUNY Brockport

Our friend Colleen Culley was dancing in a piece she choreographed, in performances by undergrad and graduate dance majors at SUNY Brockport this weekend, so we joined her parents for the Friday evening presentation.  It was strange driving half an hour to Brockport, and reminded us how spoiled we are living so close to downtown Rochester, and the plethora of performing arts available here (and how much we do not miss commuting from NJ to NYC).  We were pleasantly surprised to see the 270-seat auditorium almost full!

The dance was mostly modern (and abstract), and the choreography was mostly similar (although each piece was choreographed independently).  There seemed to be a trend of mixing long silences with music, so that the endings of pieces were delineated with light (mostly fading out), rather than music.  It's funny that when something that seems anti-establishment is repeated often enough, it no longer feels fresh and exciting.

Two of the pieces used very creative sound to accompany the dance.  "Transit Occasions," by Lauren Saint-Louis, used recordings from the NYC subway system (and the movement mimicked waiting for a train); and "Arithmophobia," by Lexi Hills, was set to repetitive recitations of the first several dozen digits of pi.  One piece had no musical accompaniment, but the choreography didn't seem to use the silence, and the lack of music meant the audience heard the effort of the dancers (perhaps that was the intent?).  A couple of the pieces explored the use of light and shadows (not just the fade-out...). In one piece the dancer cast shadows, which were as interesting to watch as the dancer herself; another backlit the dancers so that the audience watched moving silhouettes, which were very effective.  

All of the pieces were well danced, including the one piece where three cross-dressed male dancers came close to classical dance.  I am slowly overcoming my prejudice towards rail-thin dancers (since that was what I was used to after 25+ years in the audience at New York City Ballet) and recognizing that other body types can be athletic and graceful as well.  None of the pieces was particularly moving or emotional or humorous.

Except Colleen's.  Entitled "Dear Hand Sanitizer," the work was very literal in mocking the hyper-clean, antibacterial among us.  It was alternately painful and funny to watch, as she writhed on the stage, eating dirt, licking her toe, sampling her ear wax.  Hers was the only piece that not only had a 'character,' but that elicited an audible response, beyond polite applause, from the audience. There were a few titters, but the murmuring at the conclusion was primarily a combination of discomfort, shock, and consternation.  I even heard a whispered, "that was weird," from somewhere behind me.   I commend Colleen for daring to create something that made the audience think and react, rather than sit passively and watch.  And I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next in her efforts to push the envelope!