CLYMOVE

During women’s history month, it was fitting that CLYMOVE Dance, led by the fierce Clymene Aldinger, was able to celebrate their 5th anniversary with A Divine Abnormal at New York Live Arts (NYLA), followed by a gala celebrating
the legacy of powerful women in the dance field. Denise Jefferson and Ana Marie Forsythe were honored for their leadership and guidance in the field, specifically their role in leading Aldinger from student, to company member, to company director.

The opener was an acutely articulated organism. Connection points and partnering between dancers were unique, and excitingly unpredictable. Coupled with animalistic qualities in the movement and audio, the dancers moved as one being, energy rippling across the space. The line “she was never just a songbird, she was a vulture”, encapsulated the piece’s essence, eerie, but fierce, raw and passionate; too powerful to be unaccounted for. Clymene then took the stage for a cinematically captivating solo. It was also the first time her eldest daughter saw her dance, making the performance that much more special.

The lights came up, like LED light pouring through the blinds of a window pane. In a floor length red dress, her body rigid against dissonant music, Aldinger danced in the elusive, sensual, disturbing, confrontational piece. It was indulgent, drawing the audience in, while also remaining on the edge of invitation. The music and movement faded long before the lights, her body holding onto stillness, but until the final moment you could hear a pin drop in the theater. Following the solo was another group piece with impressive technical and emotional feats.

After intermission, founding member JoVonna Parks’ ethereal Inner Tides returned to the stage. The dancers’ costumes had silver corset-style bodices, and the screen behind them had a projected night sky backdrop. Due to the reflective nature of the costuming, the bodies of the dancers, upon coming close to the screen, shone as light bounced from their moving torsos onto the clouded backdrop. This imagery alongside the movement embodied tides of the ocean, passing around moonlight between waves; the delicate and ever powerful conversation between
the moon and sea.

Another solo was the final piece before the finale. Impressive, and seemingly impossible, the dancer moved with her hands held behind her back the whole piece, fighting to be free. She even beckoned to the audience with a decipherable expression: “Do you see this?!” The floorwork and staging was immensely athletic, as she was unable to use the range of her arms and hands, tactile points most dancers use whenever in motion.

Finally, CLYMOVE took the stage together in a world premiere of Martha Always Said. Each dancer started in a spotlight, with the exception of an empty one soon filled by a dancer running onstage comedically “late”. They played “pass the solo”, showcasing their strengths with individualized choreography. The work as a whole seemed to be a wonderfully meditated culmination of earlier pieces: the animosity of the first piece, the emotionality of Clymene’s solo, the ambiance of Inner Tides, the athleticism of the final solo… if the rest of the show hadn’t already shown how impressive CLYMOVE Dance’s performers were, Martha Always Said was the selling point. The CLYMOVE Dance experience is as expressive as it is ephemeral- one of a kind. This 5th anniversary marks just the beginning of what’s to come, and it is not to be missed.

EYE O THE ARTS, NY — Emma Edy Morris