After class Saturday I found myself at the Baruch Performing Arts Center for
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's performance. The venue is small and intimate.
When I first got there it was 10 minutes before show. I walked in and there were maybe less than 1/3 of full capacity. It made me question what their following was. After all, the company has been around since 1988. Five minutes later and the whole place was PACKED to full capacity. I found a good percentage of the audience to be Chinese.
The first piece was Calligraphy II. It was first shown in 1995. As the dancers appeared on stage, you could feel their presence, their strength and their power. The movements were fluid and then sharp at times. You could just feel and see how the dancers breathed through the movements.
I found the dynamic and interaction between the dancers far more intriguing and inspiring than Nai-Ni's solo towards the end although it was still beautiful. Once the dancers came back on stage with a long ribbon attached to a stick [calligraphy brush], I instantly saw the Calligraphy. It was beautiful and powerful.
The second piece was Bamboo Prayer, first presented in 1998. It's an all female cast. In the program it was mentioned how Nai-Ni chose rattan (flexible Bamboo) to symbolize the strength and resilience of women. I felt the strength. The power and the women working together all throughout. It was slightly violent and I think it had a lot to do with the music.
The following piece was Crosscurrent. It was being premiere in NY. A duet where passion and love was a running theme. It reminded me of contact improv, melting onto each other at times-- goosebumps throughout. At times there were very suttle movements between the dancers in which you would see a cause and effect. A simple touch to the hand would cause a shiver throughout the girls body. I got the sense of the male dancer being her protector and guardian, always aware of where she was on stage.
The following piece was a solo by Noibis Licea. I have previously blogged about him, he teaches the Afro-Cuban class at Peridance Center. I don't ever read the title of the pieces. It often times ruins for me what it is about. This piece took my breath away by far. The movements evoked emotions in me that the previous dances hadn't. There was an internal struggle in the dance. I saw and felt pain in his face. His melting, fluid movements showed progression. I found it amazing that he was able to do about half of this intricate dance with his eyes closed. That shows a lot of talent and skill. That further evoked the feeling of self discovery and that this dance was about him, something personal. By the end of the piece, you could see a sense of accomplishment. Interestingly enough the piece is call Quest. This was a piece that I easily identified with, on many levels.
The last piece of the evening was Mirage and it was a NY premiere. There was a lot of heavy drumming, there were lots of lifts and dancer to dancer body interaction. Everything about it built up, the music, the movements, the set. In the program it is described as "Inspired by the unique rhythms and dance movement of the Uyghur people of Xinjiang, China... Its tranquility and passion evoke the images of the desert area and the people who lived in oasis towns.
Nai-Ni's use of floor pattern and traveling is phenomenal and that's an understatement. The best way to describe it is if each dancer had paint on their feet, the pattern on the floor would be a masterpiece of art-- one that I would want hanging in my living room.
