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Todd Williams Downtown

WilliamsWorks
92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival
Ailey Citigroup Theater
New York, NY
February 8, 2006

By Susan Reiter
copyright ©2006 by Susan Reiter

It’s a rare dancer who could move from New York City Ballet to the fiercely unpredictable “downtown” milieu of Stephen Petronio’s choreography, but Todd Williams managed to operate in both realms with aplomb. His time with NYCB was brief (1990 – 94), but his crisp, buoyant dancing made an impression, and he received plumb corps assignments such as “Donizetti Variations.” Clearly, a restless intelligence and interest in broadening his horizons took over, and he became an exceptional interpreter of Petronio’s works, as well as the company’s assistant artistic director, from 1995 to 2002.

His curiosity and expanded horizons were very much in evident on this, his first full-evening presentation of his own choreography in New York. Everything that happened on stage was interesting and gave evidence of being well thought-out. Movement ranged from meditative to wacky to punchy; the design elements were distinctive and evocative. Williams appeared in all three works (presented in quick succession, without any intermission), and his precise, fluid attack and air of mystery were compelling.

“108” established a strong stage pattern of a central circle overlaid with a triangle. The lighting focused on a central, circular area, and three dancers on the floor calmly rolled and folded themselves along its perimeter. Three standing dancers sustained the triangular motif, exploring raptly through space with sharply etched phrases. Three vertical hanging panels upstage featured colorful designs in which circles were dominant.

Williams’ program note alluded to the significance of the number 108 in various religions and mystical beliefs, and the dancers’ belted tunics (in rust-orange and grey-blue) and focused, intent performance manner evoked a mystical or ritualistic tone. John Toenjes’ (recorded) dirge-like score featured chimes and a faint toy piano, and gave the dancers a meditative, spacious framework through which their evolving patterns were often mesmerizing, if somewhat secretive. “108” might have worked better had it not been the programopener.

“Exquisite Corpse” was a modern-day Dadaist surprise, and a fruitful collaboration between two impressively individualistic dancers—Williams and former Merce Cunningham dancer Glen Rumsey. The swirled onto the stage swathed in filmy fabric, colorful boa-like material, with their heads veiled in fabric like the Novice in Robbins’ “The Cage.” Who were these odd, determined creatures? They bobbed like roosters, stumbled (intentionally?) as they negotiated the pieces of fabric that they gradually shed. The driving beat and angry, sinister tone of the music, a remix that featured the Dresden Dolls’ song “Gravity,” propelled them.  The odd costumes, and the sensual way their bodies increasingly revealed themselves, showcased two dancers very much at ease with their feminine sides and willing to be openly sensual. When their faces were eventually revealed, they maintained stolid, dull expressions, as if some unseen force was manipulating them through their unpredictable bursts of movement. Thanks to the focus and slippery grace of the two dancers, “Exquisite Corpse” was captivating in its strangeness.

The closing work, “Value Intensity,” for a cast of 14, came with a program note referring to Carl Jung’s word-association tests and dream analyses. Heady stuff, and perhaps not something that—however fervently the choreographer is inspired by it—can readily be communicated through dance. There were lots of entrances and exits, with new dancers constantly added to the mix, and as the work progressed, carried along by Toenjes’ live score, they shifted form slinky lunges and a sense of slow-motion restraint, to more aggressive, full-out juicy attack, as the music acquired a more dynamic beat. The three hanging panels, which had been turned around to reveal odd, quasi-human figures for the second dance, were now simply white— allowing the audience to project whatever we wanted onto the intriguing but not always focused movement.

Photo: Sarah Silver

Volume 4, No. 6
February 13, 2006
copyright ©2006 Susan Reiter
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last updated on February 13, 2006