ON THE FRINGE: Canyon

Will someone please explain why there's a guy scooting around the stage from inside a cardboard box?

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ON THE FRINGE: Canyon

POSTED: Friday, September 9, 2011, 11:30 PM

One of my friends won't go see modern dance with me anymore. She says she just doesn't get it, and she's sick of feeling dumb for not understanding the meaning behind the movement. Really, it's an awful feeling: You know the performers are trying to tell you something, but if you aren't schooled in the intricate, incredibly nuanced art form, modern dance sometimes just looks like a bunch of people rolling around on the floor. Which is why it helps when these companies give you a little something to go on: an identifiable score, emotive interplay, perhaps even a plot referenced -- even obliquely -- in the program notes.

John Jasperse's Canyon does us no such favors. (It should be noted that the festival guide does better at explaining what to expect than the program itself, so do your homework.) Amplified by lyricless, sometimes migraine-inducingly loud, downtempo electronica, six dancers -- the choreographer among them -- begin their 70-minute journey to nowhere with a fast-paced ensemble movement series, a warmup of sorts. At this point you're thinking to yourself that these young performers are graceful, energetic; you might even know enough about dance to recognize their clean lines and synchronicity. But as they forge ahead, sometimes standing still for minutes on end, sometimes writhing back and forth on a black floor decorated with haphazardly applied neon-yellow painter's tape, no clear themes emerge. Is that the point? Are you supposed to be getting angry by now? And will someone please explain why there's a guy scooting around the stage from inside a cardboard box?

You're not alone if you don't get it -- nor if that confusion has pissed you the hell off. A little post-performance-confusion-fueled research indicates that Canyon is about disorientation. You don't say. Three audience members were so disoriented, they left halfway through. (When I saw that Live Arts 2008 show with the guy torturing a live lobster, only two folks left. Sayin'.) My question to Jasperse is, would it have killed you to clue us in? This choreographer is no amateur -- the chaos is intentional, the movements clean, the piece itself cohesive -- but by refusing to help your audience, you only alienate us.

Sat., Sept. 10, 8 p.m.; Sun., Sept. 11, 2 p.m.; $30, Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St., MORE INFO HERE.

Posted by Carolyn Huckabay @ 11:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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