dance - YAEL FLEXER

300807

INFORMAL SHOWING OF NEW WORK BY CHOREOGRAPHER YAEL FLEXER, FEATURING 2 DANCERS, IN THE THEATRE AT CHICHESTER UNIVERSITY

~ strong physical geography

~ rich movement melodies on the bodies

~ tight piece

~ structurally well put together

~ cross focus between audience and space – its volume and presence

~ weaving pathways

~ networking that knits the full span and depth of its surface

~ self-avoiding that attacks the space in get-out-of-the-way expansions that spiral down to moments of walking round each other, or grabbing hips to pull the other person behind

~ the themes are space, its emptiness made into a subject and its independent volume and presence marked by the dancers standing at the edges looking in - also, when it is empty, its is lit brightly in its own separate colour wash

~ the space is a player/performer in the work

~ the space is stage, viewing place, to be viewed, and to present

~ hence the small cube of light at the start followed by the same small cube with the dancer in it, which then expands to fill (become) the whole space - as does the dancers’ movement

~ this theme is restated again as the conclusion to the work when the small cube reappears after the dancers have left

~ intelligent choreography with a simple task/agenda of spatial investigation/deconstruction in respect to its persona and function as a viewing/performance space for dance

~ the geographical location is added to by the moving geographies/architectures of the dancing bodies who provide further volumes, masses, arches, and pathways that are moveable, malleable, and transient

~ the dancers share the same technical vocabulary as each other with occasional idiosyncratic insertions (which always come as welcome tidbits and as embellishments/quirks/discoveries) (- the flapping elbows and outstretched arms over the head with flayed/splayed fingers are examples in this piece) – unlike the bulk of the movement material which is more familiar and generic, and widely available and used as the current/preferred aesthetic style in contemporary dance – it’s a recognisable pool of movement that is fed from the technical training dancers get (what comes first? Does the aesthetic originate in choreographic practice and then migrate to technique class so that dancers can keep abreast of choreographers' needs? Or is it more simultaneous? Or do new nuances and stylistic emphases originate in advanced technical investigations and training?)

~ the quality to the dynamic and mass of the movement is in keeping with the current vocab – edged, geometric, cutting, sudden, circular, abrupt – a relaxed attack that spirals asymmetrically and erratically – with durational elements that taper of their own accord as the internal energy and momentum expends itself naturally (internally expending energy releases) – meaning the dancers have to force-start the dance (re-start their own commencing) each time – this creates a pattern of bursting jump starts dotting and punctuating (serrating) a timeline

~ this is dance that establishes virtuosity as its natural condition and ground-base on which to relax as a casual occupant – the theme becomes a ‘this-is-for-me’ space – the ‘me’ being a dancer first and in this piece, also an androgyne, which goes with the formalist aesthetic (i.e. movement in space first) – these are the raw essentials, instruments, tools, ingredients of the practice – a stripping that reveals the backgrounding of other factors made inessential by this focus (gender is one) (specific non-theatre spaces or ‘other’ spaces, other than those similar to this one, is two)

~ modern art and the hugging of the white canvas closely to its chest, which it wants to show unspoilt by too much picture but just enough to create another kind of fullness in which the canvas features as much as the paint – inanimate and animate co-animating

~ this piece showed great complexity and competency of crafting and artistry but is low on originality, the exclusion of which makes the concept of originality less significant to the artist’s purposes here

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