Fall Forward Fails to Catch Fire

Oberlin's first contemporary dance event of the semester, Fall Forward, opens this weekend. From the looks of it, the show should be re-titled Fall Halfway-Forward. Nothing in the show is particularly awful, yet very little takes hold of the spectator. There is interesting movement within the seven pieces, but the evening as a whole fails to catch fire. This lack of larger group pieces is a problem, as the successive series of solos and duos has a tendency to run together.

The evening opens with junior Elizabeth Heard's "Edge." Standing in a pin-point spotlight, Heard's movement was marionette like with appendages splayed outwards, as if on strings. At times her movement seemed vaguely inspired by Madonna. Heard uses some interesting hand motions and gestures, as well as some interesting floor work such as rolls and tumbles, but things did not gel.

Juniors Galen Treuer and Ann Willemssen's faired better. "Against Two Walls" had a particularly clever use of Warner Main's space as they localized their dance to what is suggested in the title - an intimate corner of the converted gymnasium. As the lights come up the two are standing, languidly draped over each other, in a pose reminiscent of a fetal position. Treuer and Willemsen complement one another, as they dance to the music of classical guitar, backs straight, in an arm-in-arm fashion. This mood is broken ever so often with larger pieces of movements such as synchronized leaps and flips. At one point, Treur flips off the wall, all within the context of the stately and elegant sound of the classical guitar.

From the clean sound of the classical guitar, the evening continues with the joyously sloppy sounds of master barker Tom Waits. Another duo choreographed by junior Gamaliel Lodge and sophomore Erin Jacklin. Entitled "From Two," this piece includes the evening's most striking visual. Slowly the lights come up, Jacklin on center stage on her back, with her legs pulled in to her chest. Balanced on her moving shins is Lodge, quietly looking out at the audience, floating.

It was a breathtaking moment, as it looked as if Lodge was on a raft, peaceably stranded out in the middle of a vast ocean, perfectly content. The piece contained a fluidity and good humor that none of the other pieces could touch. Jacklin and Lodge were having fun and this was evident. Literally wrapping themselves around each other, the duo was reminiscent of an old-time barbershop pole, with the two colors that spiraled infinitely around each other. This arm-in-arm tenderness that Jacklin and Lodge's intimate piece conveyed was a nice juxtaposition to the cragginess of Waits' voice.

Jason Miller presented a solo work, "Inherit." The piece, a dance/performance art piece explored Miller's sexuality as a gay man, and more specifically the relationship he has with his mother. Anyone who saw last year's Fall Forward will be reminded of Jeremy Kucholtz's similarly inspired work. This type of intensely personal performance is almost critic proof. This sort of creation, a sort of performance-therapy piece, is perfectly valid (Bill T. Jones did it with his "Still/Here" piece in New York) but it becomes hard when one tries to navigate between the person and the performance. Some of Miller's piece was quite interesting, yet the same problem persisted with his as with many of the others in Fall Forward. Namely, the piece lacked an overall coherence.

Much of the time it felt as if Miller was wandering around the stage, punctuating his wandering with sharp physical moments.

Miller, clad in a form-fitting black silk dress assumed a very good maternal presence within the piece. The best visual element came when Miller, educated at a Catholic school the audience finds out, strikes a cross position while his body shakes, seemingly wracked with spasms. "Now what is a good Catholic boy doing with a black dress and heels," Miller intones in his mother's voice, when he stops shaking. The end of the piece proved soild, with Miller swaying, bent over, his hands grazing the floor. The action was reminiscent of something African, a gathering motion.

Next on the program was sophomore Loren Groendahl's "Taut," choreographed to the song by PJ Harvey of the same name. The piece had some energy to it, but this energy was mostly due to the thumping beat of Harvey's music. There was a nice moment when Groendahl wrapped her hand around her neck, creating an image of constriction and tension that began to do justice to the piece's title. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough edginess or punch for the piece to live up to the arresting soundtrack.

The final piece was the most fully formed of the evening. The only group piece on the program, senior Abigail Resminsky's untitled work was a fluid and propulsive piece for five women. Scored to the jazz standard "Blue Moon," Resminsky used a version by The Cowboy Junkies. Looking like floating buoys, her dancers stood in a diagonal pattern slowly undulating back and forth. It was reminiscent of the opening image in Jacklin and Lodge's piece. The propulsive running of the dancers created a steady flow of movement with just enough diverse movement to enliven it.