Review of Soul Survivor in Dance Europe

fillililll
SeparateVoices,andstudentsof Universityof aboutwatchinga personbeinghandledwithas
UtahDepanment
ot ModernDancein her1999 much graceor regardas one wouldafforda
Timbrallnventions.
bag ol rubbish.Theseimagesare delivered
with chillingexactitudebut withouta trace of
CaitlinSims
emotion,be it anger,halredor contempt.
In differenceto visiting an art gallery or
installation,
GILLESJOBIN
theaudiencesitscaptivewitnesses
Bralndance
to scenesthatshownameless.
inanimale
bodies being draggedacrossthe stage by their
lCA, London
Bnindance,by Gilles Jobin, as a piece of limbs.Leftvulnerable
and exposedwith their
movsmenttheatre, does in essence what clothingpulledor torn off, they are manipulatdancecan do best.By usingdanceas a form ed, contorted,laid out and numbered,then
of visual art, with the human body the raw linedup likethedeadin a killingfield.
Laterin the worknakedbodieswereshown
mat€rialfor meansof expression,he tells a
story withouthavingto rely on histrionicstor as if theyweresculptures.
Litonlyby handheld
efiect.The resultis not unlikea photojournal- lorchesthe piecebecamea litestudyof human
ist'sreport.A storywith no storyline.
form.But as a pieceof dancetherewas nothJobin has creat€devocativeand disturbing ing ol any interestwhatsoever.A misplaced
imagesthat touch on violation,abuse,racial movementsectionof ensemblefloorworkwas
cleansingand a total lack of compassionfor the only concessionto this medium.And as a
pieceof theatreit lackeddynamicvarianceand
fellowmankind.
There is somethingparticularlyhorrifying dronedon unremittingly
to a menacingsoundscape.
Nevertheless
Jobinhas thanklullymanaged
to avoidgimmickryby usingnudityon stageas
Alf's B.rllcttsholr
a powerfulstatement.In a similarvein to La
,/, i,r ( ilrl)ll
Ribot,he has redefinedthe use of the human
torm to convey both degradationat its most
perniciousand the abstractbeautyof a naked
Saleof
body.Thoughquite why these two concepts
trainingclothes
shouldappearin the samepackageis beyond
me.
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lr.lit
ElizabethOld
whichhumanbeingsare anomalous.
Whereis
ourplacein thisworld?
Silver-suited
as il a memberol Star Trek's
Nert Genention,RobertConnor,in his openingsolo,is all coolprecision,
trappedin frontof
computerscreensand at the serviceof the
CelticTiger.Staccatoyet mundanegesturesrestlesslysupportinghis head in one hand,
dozingoff,slidingoff a chairand thenstraightening himselfup - expressthe plight of the
humansoulin a tete-a-tete
withthe microchip.
Wholeheartedly
dwarfedby Tim Redfern's
overheaddigital projections,which could be
rightout of a U2 concert,the dancersat times
desertthe stage,leavingus to wanderthrough
desertedstreetsot a digitallygenerated3-D
maze,reminiscentof Fritz Lang'sMetropolis.
MeredilhMonk'salmostcorporealvoiceand
Tavemer'sLeroyKyriesetagainsta processed
soundscoreby Fran Hegartyand John Ryan,
mark out the chasm betweenhumanbeings
and machinesthroughout.
Paradoxically,
DTI capturea zeltgeist in
whichthe humanbodyis relegatedto second
place in some kind of non{ictionsci-fiwe all
haveto cometo termswith.
The speciator,however,is often laced with
the dilemmaof focusingeitheron digitallycapturedhumanmovementprojectedabove,or on
presenc€sbelow.lt
the remarkablenon-virtual
would be a pity to be distracted from JJ
Formento's
fluidity,OlwenGrindley'smuscular
sequences,
MuirneBloomer,StephenBerkleyWhite,and RobertJackson,all fallingand collapsingso eloquentlyunderthe weightof the
nextmillennium.
DeirdreMulrooney
DANCETHEATRE
OF
IRELAND
Soul Survlvor
Town HallTl|eatre;Galway,lr€land
CRISNNAHOYOS
DTI's loray into the world ol ,multi media
fusyTama
exploreswhat could be the dreamlife of the
lladrld, Spaln
ubiquitousT€chnology
Park,that landscapein
Although created three years ago, Cristina
DANCEEUROPEOctober/l,lowmber99
57