Experiencing Garth Fagan Dance perform is a little bit
like coming home, especially when you live in Rochester where the cutting edge
contemporary dance company (now in its 44th year) also resides and works.
Familiar dancers, familiar pieces, familiar Fagan — both wise and jocular in
his comments and anecdotes. Seeing the company dance in the intimacy of its own
Chestnut Street studio as part of The Fringe Festival last night seemed
therefore, pleasingly appropriate.
The degree of talent in this company always astounds me. The
technical prowess and artistry of the dancers is New York City caliber; we
should count ourselves lucky that Fagan chooses to keep his family of dancers
close to home. Fagan himself is both a Tony and Olivier award-winning choreographer
and more than a few of his dancers have earned Bessie Awards (the dance
parallel to a Tony or Oscar). It was Fagan’s work in “The Lion King” that won
him the Tony for Best Choreography. And recently, “The Lion King” became the
highest ticket seller in the history of Broadway shows. Kudos to Fagan for
that.
What I also love about this company is that Fagan doesn’t “throw
away” mature dancers like so many in his field are wont to do. Instead, he
plummets the depths of their life experience through his choreography. “No
Evidence of Failure,” part of Thursday night’s program, was choreographed by
Fagan last year and is set on Natalie Rogers (one of the Bessie winners) who
has been with the company for decades. Fagan explained last night that the
piece was a tribute to multi-tasking, modern women who put their all into
everything they do and succeed.
Rogers danced with a shining vitality as did her partner VitolioJeune. I especially
enjoyed part B, set to Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.” Rogers danced exuberantly,
and the tenderness that spitfire Jeune exuded towards
her, his onstage love, was palpable. The audience broke out into “bravos” and
Fagan himself complimented their performance after they had finished: “That was
an amazing performance,” he said. “And I’m extremely hard to please. They just
laid that out for you.”
Fagan is not premiering a new piece this season, but Norwood Pennewell, Fagan’s rehearsal director and another Bessie
winner, will. “Afterhours,” the new piece, is still a work in progress, but it
is already exciting to watch and holds together nicely. Sade Bully, alone on
stage for a long period, danced exquisitely, executing balances and jumps with
no apparent effort. And Pennewell’s complex
choreography does not look easy to master. Small things, like Bully coming down
from a jump and immediately flexing her foot, added interesting texture to the
movement, but must have taken plenty of practicing. I liked how she imbued her
movements with a yearning, searching quality that lent a tinge of mystery to
the performance.
Later in the piece Bully is joined by Jeune.
Pennewell obviously knows the heights of Jeune’s talents for he gives him some difficult, but oh so
pleasing, choreography to work with. For instance, Jeune
holds a one-legged balance with his other leg fully extended, goes over into a
backbend before letting himself start to fall backwards, then initiates a body
twist and breaks his fall with his hands. Kinetically thrilling.
“Garth Fagan Dance: Up Close and Personal” will show again
Friday, September 26, and Saturday, September 27, at the Garth Fagan Dance Studio
Theater. 7 p.m. $16.
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2014.
