Review: THIS INHERENT ECHO at Taffety Punk

In its time, the Taffety Punk Theatre Company has been determined to mix all manner of art forms into its unique productions, maybe none so much as its world premiere of "This Inherent Echo," presented over the weekend at the Capital Hill Arts Workshop.

The combination of dance, music and visual art is something that can't quite be experienced elsewhere, quite this way.

The new dance work directed and choreographed by managing director and Taffety Punk co-founder Erin Mitchell Nelson was created in conjunction with its five-member company of Katie Harris Banks, Paulina Guerrero, Safi Harriott, Katie Murphy and Chloè Richier.

Meant to convey the connections between people and their effect, they express themselves through movement individually and together, with the connective thread literally strung between them.

The fibrous connection, which is gathered up at first and later includes a web, is courtesy of the visual artist Rania Hassan, whose woven creations have spoken to notions of community, identity, time, memory and synchronicity. One such work hung down three levels at the Kreeger Museum; a 15-foot sculpture stands sentinel at K Street and Connecticut Avenue NW. Here, her threaded connection is personal, contained and kinetic.

The diverse group of dancers of different ages, shape and background, worked well together, drawing deeper into their interpretation through movement amid the stringed connections.

The live original music from cellist Amy Domingues and drummer Amy Farina was said to be written simultaneously with the choreography in collaboration with the dancers, which is an interesting process to say the least.

Starting with an evocative dusting of the drumheads by Farina, it builds to an mesmerizing intensity, even as it adds vocal chants by Domingues from a pair of obscure tracts from a 12th century German mother superior, Hildegard of Bingen, one of which is translated as "I am Victory, the swift, brave champions I fight with a stone, I tread the ancient serpent down."

Just to hear the musical explorations conjured by the two women would make the evening worthwhile. Domingues is a cellist has appeared in a number of theatrical productions, but also, over 80 different rock, pop and classical albums, including those by Bob Mould, Jenny Toomey and Fugazi.

Farina has an even closer connection to Fugazi: she's married to its Ian MacKaye and fronts the bands The Evens and Coriky with him. These are seasoned, serious and proven performers who are comfortable heading to the edges of experimentation. (Director and choreographer Nelson has a rock connection as well - she's the vocalist of the esteemed band Beauty Pill).

A collaboration such as "This Inherent Echo" demonstrates the riches the D.C. arts and punk community has to offer and their ability to stretch out into all manner of expression, furthering the epigraph on the evening's program, from the Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan: "Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands."

Keeping with their punk ethos, the theater invited different opening acts on each one of the three night performance, to give greater visibility to choreography from the D.C. dance community. On Saturday, it was Katie Sopoci Drake and Malcolm Shute performing "Personal Space," which is performed entirely atop a single table, starting with the two sitting with backs to the audience, entangling slowly as the piece goes on. An explanation states they're supposed to represent being adrift on a small raft on the ocean, but I liked it just fine that they were on a table.

Running time: About 90 minutes.

Photo credit: Katie Harris Banks and Safi Harriott in "This Inherent Echo," choreographed by Erin Mitchell Nelson. Photo by Chris Grady

"This Inherent Echo" ran May 4-6 at Taffety Punk Theatre Company at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, 545 7th St. SE. More information online.

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