Doug Varone and Dancers didn't rely on any gimmicks, flashing lights, props or fancy backdrops as they performed at the University of Hawaii's Kennedy Theatre. There was only fabulous dancing and stimulating choreography. Varone brought warmth
By Vivien Lee
to modern dance
Special to the Star-BulletinThe modern dance company comprising five men and four women from New York performed to a small but enthusiastic crowd Friday night. (The concert repeated on Saturday.)
This marked the company's first visit to Hawaii and the return of Hilo-born member Eddie Taketa to the stage where he cut his teeth as a UH dance student 20 years ago.
The dancers performed three pieces choreographed by Varone, all exuding the company's trademark energy and style: high-speed flinging, flying, whipping, and dropping onto, over and under each other, or passing just a hair's breadth away. The dancers' timing and placement had to be perfect, their trust in one another complete, or there would have been disaster. Unison movement was rare. They made it all look easy. But beyond incredible technical ability, the dancers also showed more facial expression and emotion than most, giving the dances a warm human quality in spite of the abstract idiom.
"Possession" (1994) tells no story but is dramatic nonetheless, partly due to Philip Glass' stirring music, but mostly because it is performed so passionately and beautifully. The motion creates emotion in the gut. In the first section, everyday gestures such as touching one's own face flow in and out of abstract dance movement. The pace gets frenetic with eight people's heads, upper torsos, arms and legs circling and hurling through space.
The second section slows down and we notice that even fingers are choreographed. The dramatic content builds as two interacting couples experience transient moments of violence and rigidity. In the third section, the pace picks up again and the energy is doubled.
The mood changes abruptly with "Bel Canto" (1998) set to music from an opera. It is instantly humorous. Everyone wears one garment made out of bright red velvet and another with a bright bold print.
The dance is full of physical humor -- falling, collapsing, pulling each other up, jumping unexpectedly into someone's arms. Again, there is no story but constant flashes of human relationships. Two male duet sections stand out. The first pits slim gadfly Taketa against the bigger, slower, dumber Larry Hahn.
The second, with Hahn and Varone, has to be one of the funniest duets ever. At one point, the two find themselves nose to nose, causing Hahn's pinky to vibrate wildly. Varone's face is as incredibly expressive as his body. He is the female operatic voice we hear.
"Sleeping With Giants" (1999) does tell a story, but whether it is about an outcast reviled by the group, or an aging person lost in a sped-up society, or, as has been suggested by another reviewer, a Christ figure, will be up to you to decide.
Hahn is the man who tries to keep up but fails, is pushed, yelled at and stomped on. In a solo section, he stands still, clutching his fists to his chest, turning his head nervously as if hearing voices coming at him from all directions. This part in particular portrays a frightened, confused old person, abandoned in a world where things happen too quickly for him to comprehend.
While the dance is powerful, there needs to be a further evolving of the main idea; it goes on too long without development. There is a surprise development at the very end, but it could have happened earlier. I wish the concert had not ended on such a somber note.
Modern dance is not always easy to understand. But this concert was accessible for those who allowed to let the movement move them.
Vivien Lee has an MFA in dance from
UH-Manoa. She teaches creative movement
and music in elementary schools.
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