BWW Reviews: PEDIGREE, PERIGEE, APOEE: Christopher Williams Curates, Douglas Dunn and Jordan Isadore

Pedigree, Perigee, Apogee: Christopher Williams Curates, Douglas Dunn and Jordan Isadore

By Jennifer Fried

The final Friday's at Noon performance at the 92Y featured a presentation of works by Douglas Dunn, Jordan Isadore and Christopher Williams. Although each choreographer's work was unique and distinct, a common thread was emerged from their concepts and creations.

Douglas Dunn's Comme si...opened with a silent solo. Dunn himself performed this, which heightened the anticipation for the arrival of the music and the other dancers, clad in bright clothing. The dancers then moved around each other in graceful but pedestrian ways, at times alone or with different partners. The influence of Cunningham on Dunn was not lost in the modern, but ballet inspired choreography. The piece presented a snap shot of dance and movement incorporated into anyone's daily life.

Jordan Isadore presented three works that incorporated a bit of sarcasm and humor. Isadore found inspiration in post-modern choreographers and performers such as Trisha Brown and Beyonce, as well as viral videos of the Harlem Shake. Isadore's moves were a striking success: each dancer, both male and female, wore a blonde wig with a bun and a hair net reminiscent of a working class woman of the 1950's. Whether Isadore and his other dancers were shaking every part of their body in the work Harlem Shake, or Isadore performing the solo work Love Me, the choreography presented a witty and sarcastic contemporary look at the Spanish dance and culture of the 1950's in a delightfully entertaining way.

Christopher Williams' exhibition of two excerpts from his larger dance-opera Wolf-in-Skins concluded the afternoon. Williams seeks inspiration from choreographers such as Nijinsky, who look to a pagan mythic past as a muse. Three dancers covered in white chalk, wearing minimal yet fascinatingly modern costumes, gracefully entered the stage. The post-modern choreography conveyed the story of the mythic hero's journey in medieval Welsh literature. William's excerpts, while grand, certainly would translate better in a larger theatre such as Lincoln Center.

The three choreographers, while of different generations, work within the post-modern framework. They find inspiration for their contemporary works in the past-whether the near past of 1950's Spanish Harlem or the Ancient mythic past-and present their concepts in a novel manner that speaks to audiences of 2013.

Photo Credit: Andy Toad

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