Gillmer Duran’s “Tyranny of the Senses,” the first of four dances in Alaska Dance Theater/Eugene Ballet Company’s Intersections, was meant to explore how we interact with our senses, and they in turn respond to us. The dancers explored each of the five conventional senses in turn, plus kinesthetic, pain, temperature and balance-acceleration-direction lumped together.
Yet as much as Duran set out to explore the interplay of the senses, the edgy, modern dance style turned this piece into an exploration of gravity. The dancers combined unlikely hip gyrations and isolations that merged into full-body movement, seemingly exempt from the rules that bind the rest of us into a sensible cause-and-effect chain of movement.
During the after-show question and answer session, Duran sheepishly confessed that he doesn’t consider himself much of a costume designer. But the costumes for the first dance, an eclectic blend of quirky, asymmetrical black ensembles, from placing men in skirts to a woman in the customary men’s tights, or a man with one leg in trousers and the other in shorts, went perfectly with the “new edge” soundtrack, backed by a continuous projection of sometimes-related images, to create an off-beat-yet-in-sync feel to the entire piece.
Susan Perry’s costuming for the next dance, “Faces of Eve,” was equally brilliant, placing the three ADT dancers in equal parts flannel nightgowns and flamenco skirts. Toni Pimble’s choreography explored the shifting relationships between women, observing two young girls moving from childhood to adulthood then fleeing, leaving their mother behind... for the moment. But the “mother” could, just as easily, be seen as a younger sister.
The second half of the show reflected more traditional ballet choreography and costuming, including some lovely pointe work. In “A Solo in Nine Parts,” the company swooped across the stage, occasionally depositing a soloist or small group of them, then swooping back to collect the abandoned members again.
The concluding piece, “Without the Cover” -- again choreographed by Duran -- combined elements inspired by Venezuelan folk dancing with a set of hanging curtains that represented how we hide from each other and, perhaps, ourselves. Anybody that’s ever been in a relationship can identify with the way the dancers bobbed and weaved in and out of the curtains, staying together even when one or both was partially hidden behind the covers, or giving merry chase round the barrier but never quite managing to end up on the same side of it at the same time.
Given the extremely short rehearsal time both the ADT and Eugene dancers turned in admirable performances, showcasing how the intersections of two very different groups can bring out the best in our local dancers, and put a new inflection on the visiting artists’ work.
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