Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY returns to The Joyce, performing with intent and clarity

• By drediman
• March 28, 2024
• No Comments

This week, Trisha Brown Dance Company makes a welcome return to New York at The Joyce Theatre in Chelsea with a beautifully curated program comprised of a beguiling premiere and two classics of the company’s repertoire.

The evening commenced with one of the former, Glacial Decoy. It’s a transfixing piece featuring a number of dancers coming into and out of focus – just like the photographs the flowing yet rigorous piece is set against. Then came arguably the centerpiece of the bill, Noé Soulier’s newly commissioned In the Fall, which was created with the generous support of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef and Arpels. As its title suggests, the work conveys a constant state of falling, beginning glacially, then organically picking up momentum, before ending up in the state where it began. Set to an environmental soundscape and costumed in Kaye Voyce’s simple yet evocative color-coded costumes, the work’s undulating, deconstructionist movements – as if spurred by internal and external forces – take their time revealing their logic. The effect is mesmerizing. The company’s Joyce program concluded with Brown’s 1985 Working Title, perhaps the most conventional dance of the trio. Featuring music by Peter Zummo, the dance is sunny, loose-limbed, and a complete joy to watch.

Throughout, the dancing was on a very high level – clear, distinct, intentional. Indeed, the company looks to be in excellent shape (a standout on opening night was Burr Johnson, a striking presence whenever he took to the stage), which is great news for a troupe that lost its beloved namesake founder not too long ago in 2017. And if it continues to commission new works of the same quality as Soulier’s piece, I’d say the company will have found its groove in this exciting new chapter of its story.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY
Dance
The Joyce Theater
1 hour, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Through March 31