onTiuence O Love The Kiss Project's Creations (February 3-13, 2000) reviewed by Alex Williams For the sixth year now, Judith Marcuse heads the artistic direction of a meeting of minds and bodies on the topic of love, forming The Creations, the core of the Kiss Project. Text, dance and music intersect this year, with a range of dynamic and eloquent results, some obviously more resonant than others, but the gestalt of cross-polli- nation is here, often simple, surprising and satisfying. The first piece in the programme, Crossing the ’ Marimba, features Cori Caulfield’s movement set to a text by Shamina Senaratne, a luscious adventure through the melting of world and love where syn- chronicity of nature and inspiration of desire intersect. Although | found the arc of the piece needing some ele- ments of contrast that would assist in revealing the photo by David Cooper. essence of the piece, Caulfield has prepared it with care, and tones of longing loneliness to exuberance and deli- cate bliss are well sounded. Andrew Mcllroy and Michael Trent's fabulously funny / Found Donna Summer Before She Found God follows, and is a very fun and poignant gay coming of age tale of a pudgy, love-struck disco demon in suburban Ottawa, circa the Queen’s Jubilee. As he tries haplessly to seduce the object of his desire, a certain Denis (with one n), he fights to gain both the status he knows he deserves and flight from his "fat, family and fagdom". We are carried through the piece by marvelous and groovin' movement that deliberately sends up the con- ventions in modern dance, the supercilious struts of high school starlets, and the glam-show moves of the disco cure. The performances of Trent, Cornelius Fisher- Credo, and Zak Santiago Alam (as our Deejay and guide through the history of Disco) are engaging entertare: ironic, smart and humane. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a duet of dancer/ choreographer Deborah Dunn and actor David Bloom, is a visually dynamic set of images, appropriate to the interpretation of T.S. Eliot's classic poem by its action, inaction, and pauses that question. It is a poem of humanity, irony and the lilts of fatigued faith; a portrait of an old man’s observations and the temptation of making meaning out of them. Bloom and Dunn per- form with an eye for the amusement of the small intrigues that life presents - not a piece of high drama - rather human theatre of our days gone by. The collaborative piece, Undone, of Susan McKenzie, Kendra Fanconi, Marthe Leonard, Rachel Anderson and others features extraordinary use of white, sweeping costumes and projections of real-time, hand-written text. | was wary of this work. at first, finding its beauty excessively airy. As it continued however, | was drawn into the very intimate and open sense of love as devo- tion. A vulnerable place of belief in delicate gods that let azalea petals exist beside cracked concrete. John Lazarus and Patrick Pennefather collaborate on the humorous send up of collective creation in Thrills | Can't Define with Tom Arntzen as a punctilious and practical musician, Sheena Anderson as a nervous songstress of classical training, and Denise Clarke as an intense and pushy modern dancer out for the grit of a Gershwin tune. Solid comedy with crisp, playful humour: very enjoyable. The last piece of the evening, The Riders, inspired by Marino Marini's Horse and Rider series, is a forceful exposition of the melting of one into another by pas- sion and connection. Severe movements that appeal for strength and attempt to defy gentleness mark this vigorous work. All in all, The Creations reflect love in a time where the question seems more important than the commitment; a symposium where we wonder together: hoping, ironizing, and hoping again. Jose Navas and Compagnie Flak at the Cultc reviewed by Alex Williams A rare night, indeed for Montreal's José Navas' and Compagnie Flak's west coast premiére of One Night Only 3/3 at the Vancouver East Cultural Center February 1-5. As both choreographer and dancer, Navas opened the evening with two solos, Bosquejo and Abstraction. In Bosquejo, we hear him first, with a percussive head- dress and slowly perceive a glimmering costume in a shadowed world. The movements are dynamic and frenetic, but never without a signature clean, sensual precision. As Navas appears fully in flashes of light, | am wafted with the sense of a warrior-conjuror demanding audience of some distant, erotic god. And when the fury is at its peak, remarkable calm appears as red light drops in, feeling permanent, and Navas moves to a beauteous inner state. The eloquent water-shift is not overstated, as the final upward turn to the light is simple, unadorned, honest. Abstraction opens to sounds of bottles, liquid and breathing: intimate and popping, designed by Laurent le 24 Maslé and Navas. The shifts in Navas’ sensibility are marvelously rhythmic and engaging to watch. His body exudes a cool kind of passion; one of metal being put in fire and then in cold water - no change in form; change in animating force. Navas achieves fascination with presence here - its simplicity feels raw, searching and cyclical. After intermission, we are greeted with a stage covered in red frou-frou feather-blossoms for the trio One Night Only 3/3, a wonderful series of sex-glimpses of irony and openness. Estelle Clareton opens the piece, sun- glass-clad, breast-bare, singing birdie-giggles and then shooting us into our seats again. Navas emerges soon after from underneath the feather world and is joined by Dominique Porte, all clad in costumes by Vandal. These three birds of the mischievous played by Navas, Clareton and Porte, are both character and comment. The comment teases those whose judgements fall short of life's erotic mysteries, and entices others in a wind- ing, beautiful body banter. Their movements are playful and elusive - Mona Lisa let loose in search of extrava- gant lovers. And for an exquisite sustained breath, at the very end of the piece, we/they are revealed as the dancers stand, fully unclothed and observe the audi- ence with such acuteness that there is permission to be alone and together at the same time. This is a sharply intelligent piece of dance, twenty-three minutes of red/black provocation with gentle and biting reflections. Throughout the evening, | had the delicate sensation of my nerve endings being drawn closer to my skin. Navas dances with such precision and aliveness that one's breath becomes a creative moment of awareness. For the sixth year now, Judith Marcuse heads the artistic direction of a meeting of minds and bodies on the topic of love, forming The Creations, the core of the Kiss Project. Text, dance and music intersect this year, with a range of dynamic and eloquent results, some obviously more resonant than others, but the gestalt of cross-polli- ration is here, often simple, surprising and satisfying, The first piece in the programme, Crossing the Marimba, features Cori Cauifield’s movement set to a text by Shamina Senaratne, a luscious adventure through the melting of world and love where syn- chronicity of nature and inspiration of desire intersect Although | found the arc of the piece needing some ele- ments of contrast that would assist in revealing the essence of the piece, Caulfield has prepared it with care, and tones of longing loneliness to exuberance and deli- cate bliss are well sounded. ‘Andrew Mcliroy and Michael Trent's fabulously funny / Found Donna Summer Before She Found God follows, and is a very fun and poignant gay coming of age tale of a pudgy, love-struck disco demon in suburban Ottawa, circa the Queen's Jubilee. As he tries haplessly to seduce the object of his desire, a certain Denis (with one n), he fights to gain both the status he knows he deserves and flight from his “fat, family and fagdom* We are carried through the piece by marvelous and ‘groovin’ movement that deliberately sends up the con- ventions in modern dance, the supercilious struts of high schoo! starlets, and the glam-show moves of the disco cure. The performances of Trent, Cornelius Fisher- Credo, and Zak Santiago Alam (as our Deejay and guide through the history of Disco) are engaging entertare: ironic, smart and humane. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a duet of dancer/ choreographer Deborah Dunn and actor David Bloom, is a visually dynamic set of images, appropriate to the interpretation of TS. Eliot's classic poem by its action, inaction, and pauses that question. It is a poem of humanity, irony and the lilt of fatigued faith; a portrait of an old man’s observations and the temptation of making meaning out of them. Bloom and Dunn per- form with an eye for the amusement of the small intrigues that life presents - not a piece of high drama - rather human theatre of our days gone by. The collaborative piece, Undone, of Susan McKenzie, Kendra Fanconi, Marthe Leonard, Rachel Anderson and others features extraordinary use of white, sweeping costumes and projections of real-time, hand-written text. | was wary of this work at first, finding its beauty excessively airy. As it continued however, | was drawn into the very intimate and open sense of love as devo- tion. A vulnerable place of belief in delicate gods that let azalea petals exist beside cracked concrete. John Lazarus and Patrick Pennefather collaborate on the humorous send up of collective creation in Thrills I Can't Define with Tom Amtzen as a punctilious and practical musician, Sheena Anderson as a nervous songstress of classical training, and Denise Clarke as an intense and pushy modern dancer out for the grit of a Gershwin tune. Solid comedy with crisp, playful humour: very enjoyable. The last piece of the evening, The Riders, inspired by Marino Marini's Horse and Rider series, is a forceful exposition of the melting of one into another by pas- sion and connection. Severe movements that appeal for strength and attempt to defy gentleness mark this. vigorous work All in all, The Creations reflect love in a time where the ‘question seems more important than the commitment; a symposium where we wonder together: hoping, ironizing, and hoping again. nd Compagnie Flak at the Cultc A rare night, indeed for Montreal's José Navas’ and Compagnie Flak's west coast premiére of One Night ‘Only 3/3 at the Vancouver East Cultural Center February 1-5. ‘As both choreographer and dancer, Navas opened the evening with two solos, Bosquejo and Abstraction. In Bosquejo, we hear him first, with a percussive head- dress and slowly perceive a glimmering costume in a shadowed world. The movements are dynamic and frenetic, but never without a signature clean, sensual precision. As Navas appears fully in flashes of light, | am wafted with the sense of a warrior-conjuror ‘demanding audience of some distant, erotic god. And when the fury is at its peak, remarkable calm appears as red light drops in, feeling permanent, and Navas moves to a beauteous inner state. The eloquent water-shift is not overstated, as the final upward turn to the light is simple, unadorned, honest. ‘Abstraction opens to sounds of bottles, liquid and breathing: intimate and popping, designed by Laurent fe" ‘Maslé and Navas. The shifts in Navas’ sensibility are marvelously rhythmic and engaging to watch. His body exudes a cool kind of passion; one of metal being put in fire and then in cold water - no change in form; change in animating force. Navas achieves fascination with presence here - its simplicity feels raw, searching and cyclical. After intermission, we are greeted with a stage covered in red frou-frou feather-blossoms for the trio One Night ‘Only 3/3, a wonderful series of sex-glimpses of irony ‘and openness. Estelle Clareton opens the piece, sun- glass-clad, breast-bare, singing birdie-giggles and then shooting us into our seats again. Navas emerges soon after from underneath the feather world and is joined by Dominique Porte, all clad in costumes by Vandal. ‘These three birds of the mischievous played by Navas, Clareton and Porte, are both character and comment. The comment teases those whose judgements fall short of life's erotic mysteries, and entices others in a wind- ing, beautiful body banter. Their movements are playful and elusive - Mona Lisa let loose in search of extrava- gant lovers. And for an exquisite sustained breath, at the very end of the piece, we/they are revealed as the dancers stand, fully unclothed and observe the audi- ence with such acuteness that there is permission to be alone and together at the same time. This is a sharply intelligent piece of dance, twenty-three minutes of red/black provocation with gentle and biting reflections. Throughout the evening, | had the delicate sensation of my nerve endings being drawn closer to my skin. Navas dances with such precision and aliveness that one's breath becomes a creative moment of awareness.