Perplexity

"Wall"
Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company
Courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery
Washington, DC
May 19 2022 (evening)

There was no printed program for this dance premiere. Yet some credit information could be had from the Internet announcement for the event, Burgess had based his choreography on a magical realist novel by Mexican author Octavio Paz (1914 - 1999). Nevertheless, it wasn't the story or an aspect of plot that captured my attention first and foremost but the scenery: several large, square tablets arranged wall-like at the rear of the courtyard's dance space. The space between tablets could be opened up to let dancers penetrate and pass through the wall.  There were fewer than a dozen dancers and most of their movement was a simple sort of balletic ballroom with dancers whirling to a singer's rhumba rhythms. Three dancers stood out: a romantic pair (she wore an orange dress) and a woman in a long black gown. The orange woman had a distinctive movement theme: raising a leg high and holding it bent. The woman in black held a black umbrella high with her arm bent at the elbow. These movement themes became repetitious.  No doubt something happened between the lovers and between them and the woman wielding the umbrella. What in the world was meant? I remain puzzled.  The performance was smooth, spooky and satisfying despite its perplexing aspect.

copyright 2022 by George Jackson