Gia T. Presents' two-night performance of "The Frequency of Structure and Flow" garnered two recent reviews, one in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the other in The Examiner. Dance critic Jane Vranish, writing for the Post-Gazette, reviewed Friday Night's performance. Admittedly, Friday was a solid performance, but, in my mind, it provided a little less of a punch than Saturday's performance. Jane had some great points on the risks of working with large-scale multi-media, specifically the risk of having the installation subsume the other aspects of performance.
Dance critic Adrienne Totino reviewed Saturday's performance and found the dancers to be a "strong, cohesive unit." This piece marked the furthest I have moved into "dance". Previous iterations of Host Skull's MODULES performances and a quartet performance with Taylor Knight, David Pellow, and Rafeal Abreu-Canedo brought me onto the stage, but mainly included walking and "antics". For both nights of "The Frequency...," Jil Stifel and I performed a music-less duet focusing on eye contact, awkward angles, and mutual support in weight and ideas. I think both nights went well, but Saturday night saw me nearly crack my head open. Luckily, I was saved by adrenaline and, apparently, good form. "In one humorous section, Bernabo joined Stifel in a duet of shared weight and unexpected connections. Bernabo showed off a classic modern dance backward roll, proving his talent at more than music."
Regarding working with the installation, given the fairly random transitions in the installation's patterns, the two performances varied greatly in syncronicity. Moments that could have seemed planned or magical one night may not have occurred the other night. There is a sense that the installation is forcing the performer's hand, but this just provides a nice challenge for the performer. These types of performances are really made by quick decision making and reaction times, while still maintaining a sense of flow and calmness. The ensemble will present Part Two of "The Frequency..." in September 2013.
