VIEWPOINTS – BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Week 2: A trio of early Trisha Brown curiosities are just that (curiosities)

Trisha Brown Dance Company performs "Working Title", among other early works, at the BAM Fishman Space.

Trisha Brown Dance Company performs “Working Title”, among other early works, at the BAM Fishman Space.

Last week marked week two of BAM’s wide-reaching Next Wave Festival. The only offering I attended was a program of three early Trisha Brown-choreographed works, which were recreated for a handful of performances at the BAM Fishman Space. Brown, who passed away last year, is undoubtedly one of the pioneers of 20th-Century modern dance in America. Her namesake company continues to be the primary conduit for the live performance of her substantial body of work, including this appearance at the 2018 Next Wave Festival.

The first two works, “Ballet” and “Pamplona Stones”, are merely curiosities – nothing more. “Ballet”, which was first performed 1968, is a short solo piece that reconstructs a video of Brown herself, sardonically in tutu, ungainly trudging on all fours on parallel tight ropes. Although “Ballet” is an interesting exercise in contradictions, it’s clearly a work that is perhaps best appreciated for helping lay the groundwork for the Brown aesthetic. The 1974 “Pamplona Stones” is another early experiment – this one, a collaboration with Sylvia Palacios Whitman, in the realm of dance theater. It’s a whimsical, pseudo-improvisonational piece for two dancers. The work is amusing, but alas, as slight and raw as its predecessor.

The last piece in the program, “Working Title” was choreographed in 1985. Of the three, it’s the most developed and satisfying as a coherent work of dance; it’s also the most conventional in hindsight. Wonderfully performed by eight dancers from her company, the piece shows Brown growing into the choreographer most of us we know. Its structure is the most evolved of the bunch, demonstrating an artist who was deft at creating compelling yet rigorous tapestries out of human bodies. The appropriately titled “Working Title” boldly looks forward to works that would more definitively captures the essence of this important choreographer.

RECOMMENDED

 

TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY
Dance
BAM Fishman Space / Next Wave Festival
1 hour (without an intermission)
Closed

 

Categories: Dance

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