BWW Reviews: BELLADONNA Stuns at 92Y

The animate mastery of Adam Barruch thrilled and silenced audiences at the 92Y Harkness Dance Festival.

Set to the macabre vision of Nathaniel Hawthorne, dancer Chelsea Bonosky dreamed life into the literary creation of Rappacini's Daughter, Beatrice, who dances through a star-crossed love affair with a man named Giovanni.

Hawthorne's singular prose is full of movement. The tangled, venous human psychology of the story could not have found a better choreographer in Adam Barruch, who himself danced alongside Bonosky. From the first step onstage, Barruch's choreographic voice impressed with his unparalleled originality.

Sharp movements sprung into the dim lighting, as from under the garden thicket wherein the poisons of human invention lie still, and foreboding.

Sparsely staged, with nothing more than a desk, book, water tank, and herbs, the mood was austere, and fittingly so. Barruch is a young master of modern dance. The dramatic captivation of a mere duet has never been so strong than in Belladonna, which was created in the lush island environs of Martha's Vineyard.

Raised on rare vegetal poisons, the character of Beatrice exemplifies man's grappling with the raw power of knowledge and applied science, as a perennial double-edged sword. Barruch's choreography changed hands with complex creative intensity through the artist's physical interactions onstage.

Bonosky turned out a triumphant performance, powerful in her confident poise, although symbolizing the subjection of a deathly patriarchal will, as Barruch's character wallowed in the heart-rending touch of love against a body condemned.

By the close of the dance, many in the audience were silenced, while others vocalized genuine exhilaration. From Silent Spring to Rappacini's Daughter, Belladonna is a magical achievement, heralding an ongoing crisis between man and nature, as between man and woman.

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