Rebecca reviews "Merged II"

By Rebecca Rafferty @rsrafferty

PHOTO BY JOHN SCHLIA

"Merged II"

[
      {
        "name": "500x250 Ad",
        "insertPoint": "5",
        "component": "15667920",
        "parentWrapperClass": "",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
      }
    ]

The final Fringe Festival performance of "Merged II" was presented on Wednesday night at Geva'sNextstage. This deeply moving and visually stunning series of performances was a fantastic celebration of the human body's capabilities to strive and express and explore and persevere.

A few of the seven pieces resonated more powerfully with me than others. A short while into watching "Vent," I came to think of the whole piece as an interpretation of our vulnerable and expressive relationship with breath, and it absolutely expanded for me the definition of dance.

In the piece, choreographer and performer Melanie Aceto moves seamlessly through a variety of humorous or downright scary-to-witness manifestations of breath, the only sound her breath and footfall. Aceto takes a huge cleansing exhale paired with slow, arching movements; works through an increasing, and concerning, shortness of breath after jogging in a wide circle; performs a whole-body strain of a coughing fit after a temporary relief of breathy chuckles.

Ambient music, at times unsettling and dissonant, (by James Hansen, who is also the choreographer for the work) is the backdrop for "Clash," in which two dancers (Lynea D'Aprix and Sean Keil) navigate one another while evidently also focusing inward on private pain. Through this very resonant piece, the duo seize up, twirl, and move haltingly around one another, alternating between gentle embraces, supporting one another's semi-limp forms, or shoving one another away with a sudden snap of a limb. The dancers regarded one another with gently devastated or devastatingly gentle expressions, reaching for each other as often as they try to get away.

click to enlarge

PHOTO BY JOHN SCHLIA
"Merged II"

click to enlarge

PHOTO BY JOHN SCHLIA
"Merged II"

click to enlarge

PHOTO BY JOHN SCHLIA
"Merged II"

Immediately following this fairly heavy piece was Heather Roffe's "Coloring Outside...," an empowering soliloquy of self, set to the lovely sounds of Bernhard Fleischmann's "Composure." It was an absolute fascinating delight to watch Roffe's strong, graceful form slowly explore the negative space around a single cube prop, holding perfect plane and angular poses on or around it and gradually gaining more and more ground away from it.

I was moved nearly to tears by "Ophelia's Reclamation," which was choreographed by James Hansen and featured three dancers (Stevie Oakes, Heather Roffe, and Vanessa Van Wormer). The work begins with two dancers lying prone at the back of the stage. Up front, "Ophelia" performs a sensual and longing solo dance to Jeff Buckley's "Lilac Wine."

Her call is unanswered, and as the story goes, she lays her body down, but as she does so, the two in the back stir and roll forward to meet her body. All arms and legs rise and fall like waves crashing to the sound of tides and heartbeats, bringing to mind sirens playing in the surf. As they rise together, Buckley's "Hallelujah" begins to play, and they move about the stage like the Three Graces, a work of art in motion, providing a beautiful interpretation and accompaniment to the aching and wise melody.

In This Guide...

Rochester Fringe Festival

Adam reviews "Spoon River Rochester" and "Bushwacked"

Combining aspects of a flash mob, performance art, and historical ghost walk, the wonderfully eerie "Spoon River Rochester" adapts the text of Edgar Lee Masters' "Spoon River Anthology" with a cast of over 150 actors (including Mayor Lovely Warren) delivering poems from the work, each one an epitaph of a single resident of the titular, fictional small town. Dressed all in white and shades of gray, faces painted pale, each holding a single candle, the performers are certainly striking to look at.

By Adam Lubitow Sep 28, 2014

Spoon River Rochester Bushwacked
Rochester Fringe Festival

David reviews "Chocolate Casi Amargo," "You Are Where," and "M.I.A."

I only know a few words of Spanish, but I really enjoyed "Chocolate Casi Amargo," ("Chocolate, Almost Bitter"), a one-act written and directed by Candide Carrasco and presented Saturday afternoon on the TheaterRocs Stage at Xerox Auditorium. The play has no plot to speak of, it's just a late-night conversation between a long-married couple, Isabel (Elena Nápoles Goldfeder) and Francisco (Rubén Lorenzo Gómez).

By David Raymond Sep 28, 2014

Chocolate Casi Amargo You Are Where M.I.A.
Rochester Fringe Festival

Frank reviews Teressa Wilcox Band, Violet Mary, the Heroic Enthusiasts, and The Campbell Brothers

I've been going to see Teressa Wilcox since she was a teenage chick with a pick. And her voice's timbre has always taken a back seat to her gentle phrasing.

By Frank De Blase Sep 27, 2014

Teressa Wilcox Violet Mary The Campbell Brothers Heroic Enthusiasts
Rochester Fringe Festival

Rebecca reviews "Moment of Impact"

Created and performed by Bronwyn Sims of Strong Coffee Stage Company, "Moment of Impact" is a strange, multimedia, one-woman show that explores how trauma experienced and tragedy witnessed can change the trajectory of a life. Inspired by real events, the story is told through the creative use of a sparse set, theater, dance, and aerial acrobatics.

By Rebecca Rafferty Sep 26, 2014

Moment of Impact Strong Coffee Stage Company
Rochester Fringe Festival

Casey reviews "Garth Fagan Dance: Up Close & Personal"

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.

By Casey Carlsen Sep 26, 2014

Garth Fagan Dance Norwood Pennewell
Rochester Fringe Festival

Adam reviews "140 Characters or Less" and 20 Penny Circus

The second social media-centric comedy show of my Fringe Festival experience this year, "140 Characters or Less: A Twitter Comedy Show" delivered the #funny. Hosted by comedian Dario Josef with a rotating cast of local stand-ups, the show shares some DNA with Comedy Central's popular "@midnight" program -- mixing Twitter-based humor with traditional stand-up comedy.

By Adam Lubitow Sep 26, 2014

140 Characters or Less 20 Penny Circus Slideshow
Rochester Fringe Festival

Casey reviews Biodance and "Diaghilesque"

All of Rochester could have been lit by the energy Biodance exuded at GEVA's Nextstage last night. The show reminded me of a collection of excellent short stories.

By Casey Carlsen Sep 25, 2014

Biodance Diaghilesque Kinetic Architecture Slideshow
Rochester Fringe Festival

David reviews "The Cougar and the Cabana Boy"

If you're not quite ready to say goodbye to summer, slip on your flip-flops and catch one of the remaining performances of "The Cougar and the Cabana Boy" at Xerox Auditorium. This original musical by Dresden Engle and J. Daniel Lauritzson features a very agreeable cast and a story as light and colorful as the beach balls that get thrown around in one of the big numbers.

By David Raymond Sep 25, 2014

The Cougar and the Cabana Boy Dresden Engle Slideshow
Rochester Fringe Festival

Photos from "Echoes of '64," The Heroic Enthusiasts, and Sand Mandalas

Sep 24, 2014

Slideshow
Rochester Fringe Festival

Photos from "TriviaCITY"

CITY Newspaper's second annual trivia night at the Rochester Fringe Festival featured 17 teams competing at 5 rounds of questions about Rochester, the Fringe, and weird-knowledge trivia. Questions ranged from disco-song-origins, to fill-in-the-blank limericks on notable Rochesterians, a visual round of local logos, and a test of knowledge on the history of the Erie Canal.

By Matt DeTurck Sep 24, 2014