Opening night of “Project 3″ (two more shows, February 5 and 6) from the Seattle Dance Project was a leggy affair, onstage and off, as dance compatriots from Pacific Northwest Ballet stood in their sculpted way and chatted while waiting for the show to begin.
It was intimate and social, until the lights went down, and then it was all business, but still very intimate. In the small theatre at ACT, the dancers’ frictive slides and spins joined a soundtrack of pressured breaths, and it seemed a good bet that those in the front rows were close enough to be hit with beads of sweat.
With a program as varied as “Project 3,” at least one work is bound to win your heart, though it may not be the one you expect. I went on the strength of the world premiere of “To Converse Too” from Edwaard Liang, but it was Betsy Cooper’s “In Another Land” that surprised me. Michael Upchurch was fond of Mark Haim’s “No more sweet hours of rapture.” Sandra Kurtz highlights Kent Stowell’s “b6.”
Bach’s Cello Suites and bold backlighting by Peter Bracilano were co-stars in Liang’s work, featuring six dancers, four men and two women. Liang’s hint that it’s about conversation shows you more of his finger than the moon, but it’s still a mesmerizing feat of interlocking balletic motion, and deeply personal glimpses of relationship and control.
I’m thinking of a crossed-wrist gesture, where the dancer behind Michele Curtis slides the back of his hands along each side her head, then twists, like gentle pincers, as if to say, “Do it like this.” Combinations of dancers proliferate: Kory Perigo and Joseph Anderson have a time-delay rivalry. When the piece ends, it’s as if everyone is simply taking a breath before it starts up again.
I didn’t expect to be bowled over by “In Another Land” or “Because”–both rely on pop songs (from the Rolling Stones and Beatles, respectively), and it’s hard to avoid the song’s dictation. But, clad in baroque rock puffy shirts for Cooper’s reminiscence of the ’60s youth movement, the dancers seemed merely to be listening to the all-Stones radio station as their unity gave way to isolated yearnings. Oleg Gorboulev had a terrific solo (to “Angie,” I think) in which despair ended up in the curl of his hand.
I didn’t have the same reaction to James Canfield’s “Because,” though I could tell that many in the audience were into it. Canfield did seem to be speaking to the lyrics–“because the world is round” was accompanied by a curved arms, as if the dancers were miming pumpkins. The sound of a phrase was visualized as two dancers pulling apart. It was intriguing but felt like more of an exercise.
Kent Stowell’s “b6″ demanded a shade more hoofing than Curtis and Anderson had in them, though they were enjoying the fancy footwork Stowell set out for them. Anderson was in a white vest, and Curtis was wearing a black blazer with pointe shoes. It was like an outtake from an Astaire/Rogers film, there to be enjoyed as an illustration of finesse and timing between two old hands.
The evening opened with Haim’s “No more sweet hours of rapture,” set to an excerpt from The Magic Flute (“Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden”). It’s when Pamina runs into Tamino and he can’t speak to her (having taken a vow of silence). Haim’s choreography (and Bracilano’s lighting) captures the sudden gloom and desperate turns of heart even if you don’t know the backstory. I saw Cooper give a wrenching performance–this weekend it’s Gorboulev’s turn.
