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Louder Than Words
2010-01-09

Louder Than Words Tries Audience's Patience

Less than a year ago Louder Than Words' Chris Harris, her set designers, costumers, music friends, and lighting designer, Lacey Erb, captured audience imaginations and delighted them with new approaches to choreography in which design, costumes, music, and lighting motivated choreographic choices. Louder Than Words' latest venture is "Shift," showing this weekend (January 8 and 9, 2010) and next. at the Denver School of the Arts Dance Studio Theater. 

The standout in "Shift" is a work titled "Tempest-Tost." The success of that work is largely due to an amazing performance by Page Jenkins, whose solo work beautifully embodies the anger resident in any such storm in ever cell of her body. The rest of the concert tests audience endurance in many ways.

The concert opens with "Top o' the 1st" in which twelve women mime baseball moves to a Stewart McKay and his Wood's version of take me out to the ball game, as Harris yells at them. No abstractions, or attempts thereof - just straight out mime. Other works like "Anondyne," and "Aoide, Melete, Mneme" are filled with movement of constant modality that gives them performance lives of at most two minutes, but they go on far longer as Harris seems determined to "fill out" the chosen music. At least 25% of the concert is a "recital" by Colorado Youth Danse Theatre (CYDT). One CYDT work is even titled Choreo-Project, and never gets past that, as some dancers began movements off balance and then search for proprioception after almost falling. That CYDT project is wonderful, but when your concert PR indicates you're buying a ticket to a professional dance concert, and said PR has no indication that much of what you're paying for is a recital, audience - at least that audience without a child in the recital - can feel let down.

For the second half of the concert Harris had all seating in the theatre removed, and required audience to stand on narrow carpets laid in a criss-cross-like pattern on the dance floor. The result was a dazed and confused audience trying to move along the narrow carpets and unable to see anything more than "tid-bits" of the dance. The first piece presented in that format was "7th Inning Stretch," which was largely a repeat of "Top o' the 1st," except no one could really see it. That work went on for some ten minutes, totally testing the audience's patience and their backs, so one older audience member, who was still recovering from a concert the night before and a long rehearsal, decided that was enough and left.

In "Shift" Harris fails to get out of her own way, and her latest "innovation" in staging renders most of what is performed invisible. Louder Than Words and she can do way better than this, as proved by their last concert. They are brave and they can be innovative. Even the "audience-on-carpets" can be considered as such. It is not a new idea. The Luther College Dance program (Decorah, IA) implemented it years ago. However, they did not confine audience to carpets - having them remove their shoes instead - and they provided "opt out chairs" around the space. But an obvious question is, why do it? Would you move an audience into the middle of a symphony orchestra where they could only hear the horns? If so why? But then one company in New York City requires audience wear blindfolds at their dance concerts. Like I say - Why?

Donald K. Atwood MFA, Ph.D.

© Copyright World Dance Reviews 2010

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