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November 19, 2009


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2009-11-19

Jolene Bailie's mixed bag

Gearshifting Performance Works' mixed repetoire show Love and War was all about juxtaposition - but its contrasts ended up highlighting weaknesses

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LOVE AND WAR
Gearshifting Performance Works
Nov. 10, Gas Station Theatre

It's probably safe to say when Winnipeg dancer/choreographer Jolene Bailie envisioned her newest show, Love and War, as an exploration of opposites, she didn't mean to include the success of her own programming.

But that's how it felt as her company, Gearshifting Performance Works, presented its latest offering last Tuesday night: a mixed repertoire show that only felt uneven.

So let's start with the positive. Montreal-based choreographer Deborah Dunn's The Green Zone (2008) is a brilliantly evocative work created specifically for Bailie, influenced by the harsh realities of war.

Appearing in full military regalia, Bailie spins out twine to create a suspended cat's cradle across the stage that suggests zones, borders and trenches. Her two spoken monologues are punctuated by Dunn's jagged movement vocabulary, including rapid-fire salutes that rip through her body and abrupt falls that convey the volatility of war.

Bailie eventually transforms from a lock-step soldier following orders to an all-too vulnerable woman trapped by the ravages of conflict. It's a powerful work performed with dramatic flair - and when Bailie comes to rest in a dimly lit rectangle of light as if in a grave, it is terrifying.

Two excerpts from American modern dance pioneer Anna Sokolow's Rooms (1955) prove the timelessness of good art. Escape and The End? are ideally suited to Bailie's expressive gifts; she crafts the two portraits of loneliness with honesty.

By contrast, Bailie's Give and Take in the Kingdom of Love (2009) struggled as an artistically alarming (although crowd pleasing) trio. Imagined as a fantastical romp that depicts the "absolute death of a long term relationship," Bailie's only new work in the show cried for an outside eye, despite solid performances by young guest dancers from The School of Contemporary Dancers.

The work opens with Mark Sawh Medrano and Emma Rose appearing like unicorns, horns strapped to their heads as they crawl on all fours. As they mug and leapfrog over each other against excerpts from Georges Bizet's Carmen, Hugh Conacher's fleeting video images are projected on a screen. There are echoes of former WCD artistic director Tedd Robinson's artful fruit dances when a scarlet-dressed Spenser Halfyard quests after a fatalistic apple, but beyond comic absurdity, what it all meant remained a perplexing mystery.

It's not easy running a solo dance company, and Bailie has long proven to be a bold, creative artist unafraid to take risks. Although she may be winning the war with 10 successful seasons behind her, Love and War showed there are still a few battles to be lost along the way.
— Holly Harris

On top of its game

Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers' touring program On The Road left no doubt that Canada's oldest modern dance company has still got it

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ON THE ROAD
Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers
Nov. 12-15, Rachel Browne Theatre

Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers served up a program of straight dance, no chaser last week with On the Road, performed by its current four-dancer company at the Rachel Browne Theatre on Nov. 12 through 15. With the local run billed as a "prelude to a tour," the modern dance troupe embarks on its first national tour since 1984, a promising sign of fiscal health and renewed artistic vitality for the 45-year old organization.

It seemed only fitting that the mixed-repertoire show began with a work by WCD's venerated founding artistic director, Rachel Browne. An excerpt from Edgelit (1998) featured Lise McMillan, who circled around two simply set kitchen chairs as if in conversation with herself. There was clarity in her execution of Browne's choreography that she fulfilled with well-controlled grace, taking her viewers on a personal journey into her contemplative - if not resolved - story.

Current artistic director Brent Lott's premiere of First Walk to Available Sky followed. This was a wonderfully mature work performed by Kristin Haight and McMillan that recalled the fluidity of contact improvisation. The mesmerizing, 12-minute duet was pure movement, with the dancers playing off each other with bursts of energy and the sensual intertwining of their bodies.

The program also included perhaps one of the all-time greatest works in WCD's repertoire. Browne's dramatic Mouvement (1992) was originally created for former WCD dancer Alana Shewchuk, but has been passed to powerhouse Haight. The compact dancer took full ownership of the nine-minute work inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's self-portrait, The Wounded Deer. Her stunning artistry as she portrayed Kahlo's surrealistic deer-woman was, in a word, breathtaking.

Fredericton-based choreographer Lesandra Dodson's In Silence (2003) deconstructed Lord Byron's poem, When We Two Parted with spoken text underscored by percussive, angular movement vocabulary. Johanna Riley and Sarah Roche stomped their way through the edgy duet that included a short interpolation of local composer Christine Fellows' music, garbed in Norma Lachance's austere black dresses and oxford shoes that punctuated their movement with precision.

An excerpt from Lott's new full-length work Between the Sycamore (2009), which premieres next May, showed a piece that is still evolving despite admirable performances by Roche and Riley. Those who missed it the first time around will appreciate seeing the reworked quartet Boxstruck (2008), which essentially provides a whirlwind spin through Lott's full-length production, Struck (2008).

A male dancer or two would have been a welcomed addition to the company, and given better balance.

Nevertheless, the strong program left no doubt that Canada's oldest modern dance company is not only back on the road but also, clearly, back in the game.
— Holly Harris

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