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Friday, May 11, 2012

Dance Tonight: The Cutting Room

Posted by Jenna Lechner on Fri, May 11, 2012 at 10:14 AM

BodyVox goes intergalactic, and brings their exercise bands with them.
  • David Krebs
  • BodyVox goes intergalactic, and brings their exercise bands with them.

BodyVox is trying something different. And, as usual, it’s joyful, clever, and pretty irresistible. Their new show, The Cutting Room, debuted last week; it takes the contemporary genre of dance-theater and stretches it into dance-cinema. The Cutting Room is a cinephile’s dream; it borrows aesthetics and iconography from the likes of The Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Amadeus, and O Brother, Where Art Thou?. (The score includes both Mozart and the Appalachian Ralph Stanley.) Amazingly, there is only one intermission during the entire show; the varying aesthetics (futuristic, Baroque, backcountry, et. al) are strung together by an ongoing chase scene: a loose, silly narrative involving a man in a tie and suit (Jamey Hampton) and a man in sunglasses and an Adidas track suit (Jonathan Krebs), fighting over a MacGuffin—a mysterious film reel that’s introduced in the first few minutes of the performance.

Film references are widely recognizable, but not necessary to know; the choreography and talent is engaging enough, and full of tricks. One of the most notable tricks in the performance is the interplay between video and live action; videos are projected on a wall, then fade out, only to have the dancers emerge from their own 2d projections on the screen (by slipping from behind the screen through a slit). At one point, referencing Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece, a gaggle of dancers lift a man in a red spacesuit with exercise bands; BodyVox does not shirk away from the silly. Leaving the performance, I could tell who the fellow audience members were; they were the ones who couldn't stop grinning. On that note, enjoy some of these great shots of the performance:

Jamey Hampton, in the ongoing chase and hide with Jonathan Krebs
  • David Krebs
  • Jamey Hampton, in the ongoing chase and hide with Jonathan Krebs

Anna Marra dances in a Bollywood segment

Erik Skinner and Anna Marra dance goofy to Mozart

Besides other film references, also included in The Cutting Room is a short, original video by choreographer-turned-director Mitchell Rose. An earlier, 2001 BodyVox collaboration with Rose is worth a view, and is a preview of the kind of humor you'll catch at The Cutting Room:

The Cutting Room has two more weeks of shows, running Thursday-Saturday. Tickets start at $36; get 'em here while you still have the chance!

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