7 College Park: Women, Sex & Desire

Actually, the full title of the piece is "Women, Sex and Desire: Sometimes You Feel Like a Ho, Sometimes You Don't."

You can check out more info for the piece and its process at Gesel Mason Performance Projects' site.

Anyway, although the majority of the audience was set up facing the stage, there were a select number of seats set up on the side giving the performance space a bit of a thrust feeling (no pun intended).

In addition to the dancers, there was a live singer/narrator giving voice to the piece. Dancers at times also interjected bits of dialogue among the movement. At one point a dancer took her seat on my lap, but that was as interactive as it got.

The two acts were separated into "The Show", and then "Home" (I believe...I'll have to check the program). It was a bit of a reflection on the front that women, and people in general, put up, and then that side of ourselves we show when we're in our element.

There was nudity which Gesel, herself, opened the piece with. Although, at first, the way the light hit her, you couldn't tell whether she was clothed or not, as she face upstage. It wasn't until she moved and the contours of her body shifted the shadows which might have hid the trace of fabric that you realized she was indeed naked.

Gesel's presence flits in and out of various other sections, becoming what I interpreted as a kind of Eve/all-woman figure.

A very interesting piece, I think it's essence was efficiently touched upon in the post-show dialogue. I'm going to botch the actual exchanged (which probably means I should right these a little more immediately after viewing a piece), but it equated to this. One question was asked about whether a woman could refer to herself as a ho, and Gesel responded in the affirmative. The questioner (a middle-aged, white haired, Caucasian man) then asked, if it would be permissible for him to call her a ho.

In a somewhat assertive, but not aggressive, manner, Gesel said something like, "We'd have to talk about that."

Forgive me my pun but, it isn't so simple as to simply say, "A ho is in the eye of the beholder".

Even just to have a conversation about being a ho, you have to dissect exactly what a ho means, and to whom.

An awesome piece and one whose growth I look forward to following!!

2 Asian: Jason and Friends

So this time we put the cart before the proverbial horse, or in our case, the stage before the plate.

Sam and I caught the Sunday matinee of Jason and Friends, at Dance Place, this afternoon, before grabbing dinner at Chinatown Express.

Now a bit of a disclaimer, we're both mixed Filipino; I'm Black/Filipino American (my mom was born and raised in the Manila area), Sam is Filipino/Jordanian (who was born in Manila), and Jason Garcia Ignacio pure Pinoy (I believe) who was born and raised in Manila. So we're already coming at the performance with a bit of a more intimate cultural connection than some other audience members.

Dance Place is a permanent arts center maintained by DC Wheel Productions, Inc, whose mission is "to transform lives through performing arts and creative education programs that inspire personal growth, professional success, physical wellness and community engagement." Dance Place does that by presenting work almost every weekend of the year, running the full gamut of dance, from modern to Hip Hop, contemporary to cultural/social, and fusion styles combining any number of influences.

So not only was the presenting organization a great venue, and the work certainly coming from a cultural perspective not often with a voice in modern dance, but the dance organization that Jason is a company member of, CityDance, was a vital partner in presenting this work, providing support in creating the choreography and in presenting it, as the majority of dancers involved were CityDance and CityDance2 company members, and one piece (which closed the first act) featured students from their Conservatory/Select program.

The first half of the program exhibited a range of Jason's choreographic aesthetics, with a duet, two solos, and two group pieces. 3 of the pieces were premiers, with the penultimate piece being the premiere of a solo performed by Jason himself, titled Morph. Now to give you an idea of the movement vocabulary his experience and training brings to the table, since discovering dance at the age of 12, his experience includes dancing with Ballet Philippines, Philippine Ballet Theatre, and Steps Dance Studio. After moving to New York City, he received a scholarship from Ballet Hispanico of NY, a fellowship from the Ailey School, and apprenticed for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

In addition to dancing, he's studied gymnastics and musical theatre. Needless to say, all of this combined enabled him to choreograph and perform quite a thrilling solo, fully utilizing his full range of motion, flexibility, balance, and musicality.

The second half was dedicated to one, longer piece choreographed by Jason, The Mountain. It's not the same as seeing it live, but you can check out the trailer. The event page on Dance Place's website begins by describing the piece as follows:

"A marriage between art and science The Mountain is a dance rooted in Filipino folk dance and set to a score notated from volcanic activity. This production speaks to various socioeconomic issues including economic moderation and environmental preservation."

There are a lot of other great facts with regards to the process and support of the pieces, which is provided and the sites previously linked, but I will highlight that it was commissioned by the Kennedy Center as part of Performing Arts for Everyone and the Millennium Stage,which has free performances every day at 6pm.

The performance in itself was an experience that seamlessly incorporated modern and cultural influences, in addition to a great use of props. When the curtains first open the stage is covered by ripped and tattered newspapers which provide an additional layer of sound as the dancers move, to a soundtrack that was partially created by making the movement of Mt. Pinatubo and other seismic measurements audible, through a unique musical partnership with DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe).

One particular moment which stuck out to me happened after one person become covered in an upflow of the aforementioned newspapers and was elevated by two other dancers, when suddenly a fountain of red fabric erupted scattering the dancers. And as they got to their feet, the red fabric spread out, but horizontally instead of vertically, an was pulled downstage on both sides, recreating the suddenness of a pyroclastic flow speeding down the mountain side at speeds as fast as 450 mpg, temperatures as 1,830 degrees farenheit. But the image wasn't the fabric itself, but the last images of people looking and reaching out to the audience, and the moment before they disappeared...

The performance was fulfilling for me, both in the work itself from a dance perspective, but in the personal and cultural relevance to my own heritage. Speaking of which, it was a little disappointing not to see more Filipinos in the audience...although all the ones I know are big about the arts, but I suppose that tends to be the more mainstream and "popular" productions and venues...the familiar. But that's a conversation for another day, and definitely a bit of a chicken and egg problem with regards to the relationship between cultivating audiences among communities relevant to the work and programming a season that speaks to your existing audience demographic.

Anyway, I digress. Here's a picture of (from L to R), myself, Jason, and Sam.

Will let you know about any future chances to see this piece.

All in all a pretty good weekend :-)