Dancing Into a New Decade

"Historias rotas" "The Reflective Surface" "Radical Impact"
AXIS Dance Company
Z Space
San Francisco, CA
May 4, 2018

AXIS Dance Company entered its fourth decade with a new staff and new dancers, six of them. Performing Radical Impact Tour at Z Space in San Francisco finally gave the company a decent-sized stage and good lighting possibilities. The program offered a world premiere by former company member Nadia Adame, “Historias rotas;” a reworked version of Amy Seiwert’s 2017 ”The Reflective Surface;” and Artistic Director Marc Brew’s 2017 “Radical Impact.” Changes as extensive as those AXIS went through lately, can raise unrealistic expectation or nostalgia for the past. None of these proved to be the case. The company has weathered its transition excellently; it can look forward to whatever challenges it makes for itself and, hopefully, become part of “main stream” dance. 

The one aspect that AXIS might reconsider concerns the physicality of its commissioned choreography. Half of the dancers are “differently” able but in reality so are all dancers. Physical challenges always exist. Granted those for mixed ability ensembles are different. But the focus should not be on the athleticism of what everyone does. If dancers are the athletes of God, as Martha Graham maintained, AXIS already has a front row seat. They were splendid to watch but it was so refreshing when James Bowen and Dwayne Scheuneman engaged each other in an intimate exchange, or Bowen rested his hands on the one that Lani Dickinson had placed on his chest. There is room in AXIS for Adagio. I wish there had been more emotionally strong moments in this otherwise fine program. These dancers don’t have anything to prove in terms of how physically they can shine.

“Historias”, a quartet for Bowen, Dickinson, Yuko Monden and Scheuneman, used suitcases as props, individual ones and some suspended that could have dropped any moment. They were containers, as the program notes said, for memories. Scheuneman scooted his around on the floor; apparently, being ambivalent about it while Bowen hugged his worn case close to his chest only to drop it. The women stacked, squashed or balanced on them. While these props served as attractive visual partners, I couldn’t see much of a source of memory in them. The choreography, however, stretched and contracted with a fine elasticism.

The formal elegance of contemporary ballet choreographer Seiwert’s “Reflective” highlighted the individuality of the sextet (including JanPiStar Rodriguez and Edisnel Rodriguez). Such basic ideas as manipulating chairs, unisons, stacked lines and dissolving an accumulated mound of people showcased just how “differently able” all of these dancers are. The stunningly performed Pas de Deux for Bowen and Dickinson pulled on all of Seiwert’s considerable experience as a choreographer. The work also pushed the two dancers into what probably were new directions for them. “Reflective” is as good an example as any of the wisdom of AXIS founder and previous artistic director Judy Smith’s early decision that the only way to build a first rate company is to commission first rate choreographers.

Brew’s experience as both a dancer and a choreographer stood him in good stead when creating “Radical”. Inclusive in terms of vocabulary, adapted and highlighted by individual artists, the piece at times felt sculptural like worked stone and yet it also flowed like water. As an ensemble the dancers engaged in a circle dance, confronted chairs as respite and challenge; they also propelled themselves like a school of fishes around a central one (JanPiStar Rodrigue) while Eisner Rodriguez dove into a swimming sequence of his own.

Performed to JooWanKim’s fierce score, played by a string quartet (Clare Armenante, Annamarie Arai, Justine Preston and James Jaffe), the live music added exhilarating levels. Yet Brew was not afraid to showcase his dancers in silence. His choreography exploded with disintegrating connections only to morph into new shapes. It wove together duets into trios, doubled them up, and other way round. Fragility and strength co-existed beautifully side-by-side; perhaps that’s what “radical” can mean.

copyright © 2018 by Rita Felciano