The original Hannah Dance Company was formed in New York City in 1976. Soon the company's stature was such that dancers who successfully auditioned into it felt they had "arrived." That was also the place and time that the Postmodern movement in dance (and most art forms) was at its peak. Now famous dancers were filming themselves walking on roof tops and calling it dance. Yvonne Rainer's "NO Manifesto" was accepted as gospel as it said "no" to most aspects of dance as it was known in the Modern era, including saying "no" to virtuosity. It was a time dominated by John Cage's "indeterminism" and music, props and any dance were seen as modalities whose only thing in common was that they occupied the same time and space. The "Grand Union" performance company was just closing down as a company in which any dancer did whatever they wanted and often chose any music they liked during the performance. If one looks at Hannah Kahn's early work one can see the postmodern influences, but she never said "no" to virtuosity. Nor did music just occupy space and time with the dance. Instead her dances used the music, almost always agreeing with one aspect of it.  Kahn used music she chose elegantly, with dance phrasing developing and dissolving in subtle ways that demanded audience attention. And the dances required dancers with virtuosity.

This is the case in Kahn's current concert, "Thrum," which is being presented at the Denver School of the Arts Kay Schomp Theater on May 2nd and 3rd, 2013. Opening with the title work; "Thrum," Kahn sets phrasing on ten virtuoso dancers that vary in how they fit into ensembles. At times said phrasing is set on a single dancer against a bass background of the ensemble doing a simple walking phrase. That single dancer phrase accumulates into two dancers, then three, etc. until, as the music dynamic builds, the whole ensemble of ten dancers is dancing that phrase.. Kahn presents four works from 1996 to present - "Thrum," "Rift," "Circling Back," "Cross Purposes," and excerpts from a fifth. In each phrases develop in groups, duets, and trios with those groupings moving through the ensembles in complex ways and with said phrasing often moving into other dancers. The phrases themselves are often arcane, using movement inventions coupled with "standard" phrasing.
Donald K Atwood

Click here to read the entire review.