Fall Forward returns to quiet and elegant side of dance

Whereas dance events in recent history at Oberlin have featured everything from dragons made from television, enormous jellyfish, floating Barbi dolls and even dogs (both literal and imaginary), this weekend's Fall Forward dance concert sees a return to a more quiet and elegant dance-oriented showcase.

The evening opens with the debut performance by \twelv\, a new experimental performance group founded this year by senior Merrill Traux. The twelve person company presents the most consciously theatrical of the evening's performances. Their piece, "Horse," takes the form of what feels like a playful improvisation and moves towards a more recognizable dance performance.

There is a great deal more interaction with the audience than one might be accustommed to seeing at performances like these, which is a welcome change. No matter how avant-garde the arts at Oberlin may pride themselves on being, it is nice to see people consciously pushing those limits even further. And push they do, but thankfully never too far.

This isn't the sort of highly abstracted performance art one reads about in conservative diatribes aimed against the NEA; rather this is a playful and inventive subversion of the standard dance fare. One might wish that the piece was more conscious of time, more to the point, but it never feels oppressively long.

An interesting counter to this is the following piece, "The All Alone, S.F." choreographed and danced by junior Chwee Sze Foong. Foong's dedication in the program ("For flappers past, present, and future" ) helps to further an understanding of the piece which is emotionally rather intense, contrasting music from Shawn Colvin and Ella Fitzgerald, going from happiness to sadness in moments. The piece is brief and powerful.

Senior Jennifer Vo's "Hanahano Ka Lei Pikake" follows. The traditional Hawaiian dance number is very beautiful and spare, a theme which is sustained throughout the evening. The focus is on the dancers, and their lovely serpentine movements. But there is a subtle sense that the piece is not quite perfected. The dancers move in not-quite-unison, which is more noticeable here only since there are no other distractions. While it is true that not many dancers could stand up to such scrutiny, this piece seems to just miss its mark.

The same could be said of the next piece, "10 in Time," choreographed by junior Caitlin Medlock. This is a tap-dancing piece, and as the title indicates, time is everything. Unfortunately, the dancers never quite come together, though there are moments of wonderful harmony. It seems that the piece runs a bit too long to sustain the kind of unity which would best serve it.

Dana Kotler's "Trio Sonata No. 4 in E Minor" follows. Taking the name, and presumable the inspiration, from haunting music by J.S. Bach, this lovely piece is one of the evening's most beautiful moments. The four dancers are extremely adept and bring to life beautifully the movement of the music. One beautiful and haunting piece is an unlikely duet between a dancer, Eisenman, and a harpist, Phala Tracy. Tracy's harp performance is fantastic, and the presence of her instrument contrasts beautifully with the dancer's body, particularly when the two are so close together. This piece demonstrates how much can be achieved through little movement.

The evening closes with junior Ariel Rogoff Heitler's "maya." The piece opens rather dramatically, and manages to sustain that sense for a while. But unfortunately, it simply runs too long. Even the very competent dancers, Medlock and conservatory senior Neil Parsons, cannot sustain the piece. Both dancers have some wonderful moments and give strong perfromances, but the ending of the piece begins to drag long before it should.

On the whole, the focus on the dancers and the movement is refreshing to see in what is after all meant to be a showcase of more dance than performance art. These are ambigious terms to use, certainly, but some of these works very clearly fall into the more dance-oriented catgory. Unfortunately, not all of the works can withstand the scrutiny, but it does make for an evening more engaging than empty theatrics. Each piece feels heart-felt and genuine, and therefore the evening feels much more genuine than most. Therefore it is more difficult to critique the work, and perhaps the audience is the best judge.