Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Sweden’s Cullberg makes its Joyce debut with Deborah Hay’s clinical HORSE, THE SOLOS

• By drediman
• February 2, 2023
• No Comments

Last night, Sweden’s contemporary dance company Cullberg made its debut at The Joyce Theater. For its maiden set of performances at the Chelsea dance venue, the company has chosen to perform Horse, the solos, an hourlong evening length piece by Deborah Hay. The work was created during the dark days of the lockdown, with Hay remotely choreographing the Stockholm-based Cullberg dancers from her home in Austin, Texas.

First and foremost, the piece — if little else — resonated with me on an intellectual level. The dance is, in essence, a collection of divergent solos for seven dancers (each committed, game). Because they all remain onstage for the duration of the work, Horse, the solos is also by default an ensemble piece. Throughout the performance, Hay’s movements were curt and efficient — as if the performers were conserving energy — with minimal physical contact taking between the poker-faced dancers. The ultimate result was a universal if chilly choreographic depiction of society in lockdown. In this conceptual regard, the work sufficiently met its goals. 

Although I appreciated the conscious rigor of Horse, the solos, I missed the rawness and emotional urgency of other lockdown-era works, namely Bill T. Jones’s exquisite Afterwardsness (so unforgettably performed at the Park Avenue Armory) and Jamar Roberts’ searing solo Cooped (which was streamed for virtual consumption during the lockdown). In comparison, Hays’ clinical exercise noticeably pales in comparison.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED

HORSE, THE SOLOS
Dance
Cullberg at The Joyce Theater
1 hour (without an intermission)
Through February 5