New Horizons

"Company", "Tower"
Mazzini Dance Collective
Roulette
Brooklyn, New York
October 16, 2013

The Mazzini Dance Collective performed as part of a program of new music presented by the American Modern Ensemble.  (Annmaria Mazzini is the ensemble's choreographer-in-residence.)  This group, as the affable introduction explained, presents "adventurous modern music".  Not too adventurous, though, as the works all had rhythm and structure. The first half was all music, featuring an eclectic group of instruments--xylophone, cello, piano, augmented by a violin and a flute.  Live music, as the hostess pointed out, is a rare luxury for many dance companies (including, sadly, Mazzini's former company, Paul Taylor) and the performance showed clearly why the connection of the two arts is so vital.

"Company", to "The Thin Ice of Your Fragile Mind" composed by Robert Paterson, opened the second half.  The six-women ensemble danced what seemed to be an exploration of the power (apparently malignant) of a swarm, as four of the dancers surrounded two others.  Eventually the victim was carried off; this was not a vision of a cosy sisterhood, but is wasn't a slick "mean girls being mean" portrayal either.  It seemed to be about the role of the individual as part of a group, inevitable, sometimes supporting, but often crushing.  The dancers were well-rehearsed, interesting, and the choreography, with its constantly shifting patterns, was assured.

"Tower", set to "Visual Absract" by Pierre Jalbert, was another take on theindividual against the group;  The dancers (four women and two men) were in black, with the women's legs bound with black bands, evoking a primitive, peasant-style costume.  Indeed, the piece looked like it was an exploration of Nijinsky's "Rite of Spring", with the dancers often moving in profile, with stylized arm movements, or dancing in expanding and contracting circles, evoking the pictures of the older work.  Mazzini used the tiered stage space very well, moving the dancers forwards and backwards, from immediate to distant, in ever changing patterns. The finale, which the composer had appropriately entitled "Dance", was fierce and wild, as the dancers charged through the space to the audience, running and falling.  The choreography seemed to grow from the rhythmic, pulsating music, and the audience responded to the  vibrant combination of live music and intriguing choreography.

copyright © 2013 by Mary Cargill