{"id":3889,"date":"2013-04-25T14:58:04","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T18:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/?p=3889"},"modified":"2013-04-25T14:58:04","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T18:58:04","slug":"somewhere-familiar-melodies-by-take-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/somewhere-familiar-melodies-by-take-dance.htm","title":{"rendered":"Somewhere Familiar Melodies by TAKE Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAKE Dance<\/a>
\nSomewhere Familiar Melodies (World Premiere)
\nFriday, April 12, 2013
\nDance Now at Joe\u2019s Pub<\/a>
\nAll photos by Phyllis McCabe<\/p>\n

\"7_03790290_cosmos\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEmbracing limitation as a catalyst for creativity, we create all-inclusive, destination events that reflect a New York City landscape bustling with dance innovation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what it says on the banner of Dance Now\u2019s web site.\u00a0 From the moment that we set foot inside Joe\u2019s Pub, the limitation was looking us right in the eye.\u00a0 The stage was tiny — 9 feet by 11 feet, in a triangular shape.\u00a0 How on earth were the dancers going to travel?<\/p>\n

The cabaret setting of the pub matched the atmosphere of TAKE Dance\u2019s production of Somewhere Familiar Melodies<\/em>, which received its world premiere.\u00a0 The evening consists of eleven vignettes, ten of which are danced to a Japanese pop song.\u00a0 In his company\u2019s newsletter, Take wrote that while grieving the devastation of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, he found himself returning to the pop music that he listened to while growing up in Japan.\u00a0 This evening of dance is a celebration of that music.<\/p>\n

The evening opened with Prayer<\/em> a somber piece danced by Jill Echo to the music of Chopin.\u00a0 Smoke fills the stage as Echo, in a plain white dress, dances alone.\u00a0 Her movement is compact and solemn, appropriate for the small stage, and her focus is often cast downward.<\/p>\n

But from there, a suite of high energy pop songs erupt and the dancers\u2019 movement is daring and exuberant. .<\/p>\n

Ouedan<\/em> (also called Cheering Squad<\/em>) is an entertaining piece.\u00a0 Its energy charged through the audience and made the people come alive with cheering.\u00a0\u00a0 It was amazing to see the extent of movement considering the small size of the stage.\u00a0 From the beginning of the evening, we can see the strength and artistry of Take\u2019s dancers, who handle complex transitions and changes in speed within the confines of that small stage as if it was effortless.<\/p>\n

\"7_03790384<\/a><\/p>\n

In Our Dance<\/em>, performed by Gina Ianni and Kile Hotchkiss, there is focus on the expression of the upper body.\u00a0 The partnering is surprising and unpredictable.\u00a0 Kile Hotchkiss\u2019s solo Cosmos<\/em> incorporates martial arts movement and rapid pacing, high jumps and silent falls.\u00a0 Hotchkiss changes pace seamlessly.\u00a0 This is really impressive dancing.\u00a0 Marie Zvosec, with her rock star bearing, is wildly entertaining as she lets loose to the music of Madame M<\/em>.\u00a0 John Eirich partners her with great attitude.\u00a0 The piece conjures the atmosphere of an old school rock concert.<\/p>\n

Kristen Arnold, Brynt Beitman, and Kile Hotchkiss perform G-men<\/em> masked in dark glasses and black costumes.\u00a0 They stand with authority, practiced in the art of intimidation.\u00a0 Again, the adept partnering and the clever lifts create such compelling movement that breaks through the limitations of the tiny stage.\u00a0 There is a sequence in which the dancers run in place, and it creates a burst of energy that seems as expansive as if they\u2019d been traveling across a standard sized stage.<\/p>\n

Rain<\/em> seemed like a restaging of a passage of Take\u2019s evening length work, Salaryman<\/em>, adjusted for the tiny stage.\u00a0 A man dressed for business in a suit and tie carries an umbrella and offers to cover a young woman and shelter her from the rain.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t get a reaction from her until he\u2019s about to give up, and then she suddenly acknowledges him.\u00a0 The dance is melancholy in its subtlety, performed with beautiful understated emotion by Gina Ianni and John Eirich.<\/p>\n

\"7_03790659_mens_trio\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Men\u2019s Trio<\/em> showcases the type of physical behavior that Take always captures so well. The movement depicts the self consciousness of people who are torn between being upright and straitlaced, but who also heed the call to get down and let loose and fall under the spell of the energetic pop music.\u00a0 The characters shed their business jackets.\u00a0 They are awkward and reserved as they try to rock out.\u00a0 When one man finally loosens his hips and loses himself to the dance, another rolls his eyes in embarrassment.\u00a0 I loved the use of the small gestures in the hands and wrists, the body surrendering to the music even as the men sometimes held themselves straight, attempting to remain in a reserved posture.\u00a0 This dance was wonderfully amusing and it got a big rise out of the audience.<\/p>\n

For Four Seasons<\/em>, the dancers travel in a line through the aisles of the pub, their upper bodies telling the story in a canon of movement.\u00a0 There are expansive swaying arms, or the gesture of picking an apple in autumn, shivering in winter, sneezing in spring.\u00a0 At the end of an evening of dancing on the small stage, their passage through the room seems grand and especially lovely.<\/p>\n

\"7_03790856_lastnews\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kristen Arnold and Brynt Beitman delivered a stirring and emotion packed performance of The Last News<\/em>.\u00a0 The dance opens with Beitman sitting at a table which takes up most of the small stage.\u00a0 The table becomes a vehicle for standoffs, changes in level, turns, shelter, and extremely daring jumps executed with highly synchronized and skilled partnering.\u00a0 Their execution of the challenging choreography is outstanding without sacrificing an emotional punch.<\/p>\n

\"7_03790815_lastnews\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The evening ended with Blossom<\/em>, which seemed to be an affirmation of the renewal of the seasons.\u00a0 This piece seemed to reflect on and recapitulate all the atmospheres from all the previous pieces of the evening, and the gamut of emotions from pathos to hilarity.\u00a0 It ended in beautiful form with a shower of cherry blossoms, appropriate for this time of year in New York City.<\/p>\n

\"7_03600092<\/a><\/p>\n

The concert was beautifully conceived and exquisitely danced.\u00a0 And yes, it absolutely did rise to the challenge and transcend the limitations of the tiny stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TAKE Dance Somewhere Familiar Melodies (World Premiere) Friday, April 12, 2013 Dance Now at Joe\u2019s Pub All photos by Phyllis McCabe \u201cEmbracing limitation as a catalyst for creativity, we create all-inclusive, destination events that reflect a New York City landscape … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,20],"tags":[464,463,389,391],"class_list":["post-3889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dance","category-karen","tag-dance-now-at-joes-pub","tag-somewhere-familiar-melodies","tag-take-dance","tag-takehiro-ueyama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3889"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3900,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3889\/revisions\/3900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasperipheralvisions.com\/WetPaint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}