Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Insightful and invigorating nights of contemporary dance at The Joyce: OONA DOHERTY and INTRODANS

• By drediman
• June 12, 2024
• No Comments

In back-to-back weeks, The Joyce Theater in Chelsea has had the opportunity of hosting a pair of exciting European dance companies. As always, read on for my thoughts.

First up last week was Navy Blue (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), an evening length dance piece created by Oona Doherty for her company OD Works that caught me emotionally off guard (its presentation at The Joyce was supported by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels). The hourlong work — which seems to have been created in response to the pandemic — is comprised of two halves, the first of which is set to that warhorse of classical music, Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. It begins with a fairly standard vision of a community — represented by twelve idiosyncratic dancers — under duress. As they succumb one by one to a veiled attacker, the swelling soundtrack is augmented with slashing sound effects that call to mind the haunting, chilling final moments of Poulenc‘s Dialogues des Carmélites. Doherty’s decision to utilize such a recognizable piece of music is a daring one, but she’s a sensitive and uncanny enough artist to be able to leverage aspects of the familiar score to authentically inform the human drama — namely as it relates to loss and fear — without veering into stereotype. The movement quality here seems grounded in the vast well of feeling behind the steps, thankfully sidestepping any temptation to trade in “dance” for artful incoherence. The second half is performed to the electronic music/soundscape of Jamie xx — overlaid with a deeply questioning text recited by Doherty herself — during which the existential dread really sets in. The choreographic depiction of anxiety and panic is all quite visceral and raw, culminating in a frenetic, shattering melt-down solo that’s quelled — heartrendingly — by the simple act of a group hug. Navy Blue has sprung from the mind and soul of a unique artist whose goals are less theatrical than it is philosophical. Indeed, Doherty is a fascinating and insightful new voice, and I eagerly await what she shows us next.

Then this week at The Joyce, the Netherlands-based Introdans has returned to the Chelsea dance venue after a hiatus of more than a decade (RECOMMENDED). For their anticipated return, the dance troupe has come armed with a trio of eclectic and invigorating works by some of today’s most renowned contemporary dance choreographers, displaying their wonderful athleticism and acumen for a range of dance styles. In short, the wonderfully-curated evening provides audiences a succinct yet wide-ranging overview of modern dance, starting with Kaash, Akram Khan’s breakthrough piece that features his striking signature melding of contemporary dance and the ancient Indian dance form known as Kathak. On opening night, the dancers took some time meeting the immense rhythmic and physical demands of the dance, but they eventually settled, fully and comfortably, into the work’s excitement and exoticism. Then came Lucinda Child’s 1993 work Concerto, which is set to Henryk Gorecki’s hypnotic yet playfully accessible harpsichord concerto. Childs’ austere choreographic aesthetic — which employs elegant minimalism in pursuit of a glacial progression of combinations — was in full evidence and in stark contrast to the voluptuousness of what came before (and what would come afterwards). The piece was exuberantly performed, and the result was energizing rather than wearying. The program concluded with Cantata by Mauro Bigonzetti, which brought the entire ensemble together in an earthly, ultimately celebratory fashion. It’s a passionate, sensual dance that brings the vibrancy of southern Italy to the fore. Throughout, the Introdans dancers committed themselves admirably and with fiery abandon, particularly in their sultry, tension-filled depiction of the battle between the sexes.

OONA DOHERTY: NAVY BLUE / INTRODANS
Dance
The Joyce Theater
1 hour (without an intermission) / 1 hour, 40 minutes (with an intermission)
Closed / Through June 16