Kate Weare Company at Danspace Project
Kate Weare Company is on the rise. Their recent performances at Danspace Project in NYC, which ran June 25 through 27, follow a series of boons for an ascending modern dance company—a Choreography Fellowship from The Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, a Creative Development Residency at Jacob's Pillow, the selection of company member Leslie Kraus to be the poster girl for the entire 2008 Lincoln Center Fall for Dance Festival, and a shared season at The Joyce Theater planned for the summer of 2010 are just a few.
Another thing they have going for them is, of course, the dancing itself. The evening at Danspace Project began with the premiere of "Lean-to" followed by Weare's 2008 "Bridge of Sighs." The former began with the sound of wind and bells, part of an original score by Michel Galante and the Argento Chamber Ensemble. Dancers Douglas Gillespie and Adrian Clark step back and forth like a tide coming and going. Leslie Clark slowly enters, and intimate relationships between the three dancers reveal themselves. They move together, often leaning into each other, asking (hoping? expecting?) the recipient of their leanings to accept the weight and hold them up.
The set also leans. Designed by Kurt Perschke, it creates a large, off-white arch that curves up and over the corner of stage right. The lighting, by Brian Jones, occasionally turns the structure into a mirror (the dancers catch a glimpse of themselves in it), a dancing partner (the shadows sometimes appear as additional dancers), and a dramatic element (the structure provides shelter at times, and at others, looms menacingly over the performers). Slow, architectural poses are interrupted by quick bursts of movement that are reminiscent of the directed energy and precision of martial arts. Even the releases of breath during these eruptions sound like swords cutting through thick air.
In "Bridge of Sighs," set to an original score by Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp of One Ring Zero, the frenzied slaps, jabs and kicks that begin a duet between Gillespie and Kraus are delivered with fervor and absorbed with ardor. Kraus hurls a serious slap, and Gillespie cradles her softly. Gillespie heels her hard in the backside, and Kraus unflinchingly turns to swing back at him. He knows it's coming, and ducks. With each ferocious attack, they seem to better know what to expect. With each push, they seem to envelop each other more. In one section, Kraus jumps sprightly up and down. On her last jump, Gillespie catches her chin in the palm of his hand just as she lands on the balls of her feet. He keeps her on her toes in more ways than one.
In a second duet, performed by Clark and Jennifer Nugent (in a role created by Weare, who is recovering from knee surgery), the couple is on the verge. The movement is less violent, but also less tender. The anger is more held back, and therefore more ominous. Gillespie and Kraus re-enter; an intervention is necessary. Couplings are undone and remade with limited success, until the women and men are separated completely. Kraus and Nugent seem to regain their calm in a sensual duet, where their hips swing back and forth like metronomes in honey. Then, the women watch as the men launch into a stalwart dance that is as much a tango as it is a bull fight. The end leaves Nugent clinging to the wrong partner, as her lover and her friend stand by.
Without banging us over the head, Weare's dances hint at the complexity of personal relationships. Before the performers even begin to move, we sense a backstory. In the end, we sense there will be much more—to this particular story, and to the growth of this remarkable group.
Upcoming performance engagements for Kate Weare Company include:
MidWest Presenters Conference
Minneapolis, MN
Sept. 9 - 11
Keene State College
Keene, NH
Oct. 5 - 9
ODC Theater
San Francisco, CA
Dec. 8 - 13
For more information, visit www.kateweare.com.