TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY

The Trisha Brown Dance Company, under the Associate Artistic Direction of Carolyn Lucas, presented new and revival works at the Joyce Theater.

Seven stellar dancers embodied Brown’s iconic technique in three works. Savannah Gaillard, Rochelle Jamila, Burr Johnson, Ashley Marker, Patrick Needham, Jennifer Payan, and Spencer Weidie impeccably danced Brown’s fluid, unpredictable, non-sequitur phrases.  They challenged their bodies and minds to remember and express constantly changing phrases and formations in abstract, self contained dances that exist in time and space. 

Lee Serle, a guest choreographer was mentored by Trisha Brown in 2010 through the “Rolex Mentoring Program.”  In collaboration with the dancers, he explains that, in Time Again, he “explores cycles of time, questioning whether things truly change or simply repeat in new forms.” 

Flat sets by Mateo Lopez lie on the stage as bird calls and whistle sounds by Alisdair Macindoe open the scene.  Five dancers sit, slowly sway, change position and perspective. Eventually, dancers lift the flat sets, creating three dimensional “buildings” with doorways through which to enter and exit. 

Burr Johnson stands out. He’s a big, voluptuous, knowledgeable dancer, often taking center stage alone as others dance around him. Dancers fleetingly change positions and relationships, in the form of duets, or trios, but without emotion and human connection. Clearly, this is a dance representing beautifully performed Brown technique, with a point of view that is difficult to capture.

A collaboration between Trisha Brown and set designer Fuji Nakaya, Opal Loop was originally danced by Brown herself with Eva Karczag, Lisa Kraus, and Stephen Petronio.  Now the piece has Ashley Marker, Patrick Needham, Jennifer Payan, and Spencer Weidie in grey, white, and nude costuming by Judith Shea, feeling their way through clouds of foggy mist emanating from the back of the stage.

Constant in its presence, the fog rises and sinks, dancing on its own, sometimes engulfing the dancers, sometimes separate…a magnificent, elusive moving set, simulating nature and at times, competing with the dancers for dominance. The fog sculpture reconstruction and special effects consultant Borden Bushell did justice to Nakaya’s original design as well as bringing Brown’s native West Coast upbringing and memory of its fog to the stage. Her past and her life as a choreographer and dancer in 1980 merge. 

“Gone Fishin” is a slang expression signifying a way of escaping the humdrum, routine of life and doing something interesting.”  In this work created in 1981, Brown explains that the infrastructure of the composition was related to “the cross section of a tree trunk: “ABC center CBA.”

Lively music begins before the curtain rises. Seven dancers in lovely shades of turquoise, blue, and green tops and leggings demonstrate Brown’s exquisite non-sequitur phrasing. Beverly Emmons, the lighting designer, starts with sunshine brightness, evolving to grey as the music and dance change. 

These dancers astonish in their commitment to the demands of the choreography. In her time, Brown introduced and contributed  a very unique, cerebral approach to dance, revered for its complexity; felt internally. It is wonderful to see it recreated forty – four years later. Kudos to this company.

EYE ON THE ARTS–Mary Seidman

*Photos by Maria Baronova