A man walked onto the stage of the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at California State University Long Beach carrying a chair. He set it down in the center of a trio of women who were dancing to Moby’s Flower. He adjusted his pant legs as he sat; the women promptly dispersed. “It’s a cold morning in March when Sally meets Stu,” the man said. His name was Nadav Heyman, and he’d written, and would narrate, the words which constituted the bones of this piece. But the story began before Heyman started speaking. In silence, the lights tauntingly un-dimmed to reveal a horizontal lineup of shadowy figures. A single woman treaded forward along the center axis of the stage, both arms slowly extending forward. Her hands gradually came into focus under the lights. The rest of the cast soon followed her lead, arranging themselves in a staggered formation that filled the space. Their small synchronous gestures were impressive, performed as they were in total silence. When the music began, the tempo picked up considerably, bringing with it fast crabwalks and rapidly changing spatial patterns. I was immediately aware of the movement-language at play during Ate9 dANCE cOMPANY’s presentation of Sally Meets […]
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