Photo by Ho Chang
Gerald Casel Dance in
Fluster and Plot
April 22-24, 2010
Danspace Project @ Saint Marks Church
131 East 10th Street • New York, NY 10003 • info: 212-674-8112
Ticket information: Ovation Tix
Gerald Casel Dance presents this weekend at Danspace Project at the historic Saint Marks Church in the East Village. I’m a big fan of watching dance performances in this beautiful historic church space that oozes creativity energy. (The past two summers, I took improvisation classes here and have come up w/ the most creative stuff)
I have never seen a dance performance with costumes I’d want to wear as regular clothing but in Gerald Casel Dance‘s Fluster and Plot, I want to know where costume designer Cat DeAngelis inspiration came from. The men in Fluster wore light grey colored linen pants and cream color tops, it was perfect for the piece. Between the movement quality, sound, and costume design, I felt ready to go frolic in Central Park and have a picnic when I’m tired. The floral skorts (skirt + short) and cardigans that the women wore in Plot really showed off the muscles and were very flattering on each woman even though they all had different body types. Extra kudos to Cat DeAngelis!
The most striking aspect about this entire show is the separation of male and female performers. The three men danced Fluster and the five women danced in Plot. Both pieces also seemed to be the opposite of each other like yin and yang. Fluster is marked by movement that is more light footed where as Plot had more of a heavy down-to-the-earth feeling to it. Throughout the entire performance, I kept comparing the two because of the stark contrasts. Perhaps it was intentional.
Either way, there is no right or wrong answer in modern dance performances. The audience, choreographer, dancers, critics all are entitled to their own opinion. My word of advice if you’re going to see a modern dance performance: Sit back, relax, watch the performance as it unfolds, think it through and make your own interpretation.
According to the Danspace Project website:
Fluster explores how the body copes with the subjective and ephemeral nature of the mind, particularly in states of confusion or agitation. A trio of men physically investigates the point at which we begin to lose clarity, patience and grace. Performance by Casel, Sam Wentz and Nicholas Strafaccia. Original music composed by Kyle Olson.
Created for five women, Plot examines storytelling from the point of view of creators, performers and witnesses. Performance by Meg Madorin, Toni Melaas, Na-ye Kim, Omagbitse Omagbemi and Isadora Wolfe with original music composed and performed live by Matt Meade and Kyle Olson.
