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| Pacific Northwest Ballet company member Price Suddarth in "Little mortal jump" photo by Angela Sterling |
A friend of mine died this
weekend.
He was an artist and a scholar, a
curator and a sensitive soul.
I’m telling you this because I
couldn’t help but think of him as I watched two beautiful performances this
weekend.
“Betroffenheit,” a collaboration
by choreographer Crystal Pite and her company Kidd Pivot, and theater artist
Jonathan Young, artistic director of Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre, explores
Young’s own descent into depression and addiction after a tragic accident, and
his difficult climb out of that abyss.
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| "Betroffenheit" by Crystal Pite and Jonathan Young |
The performance is daring and
emotional, at times funny, often shockingly raw. Ultimately, it is a profoundly
moving story about one man’s battle back to the world of the living.
The Kidd Pivot dancers astound
with their seemingly boneless bodies. They twist, jerk and spin as if pulled by
an invisible puppeteer. And Young, well, what can I say? He is tender, powerful
and powerless, all at the same time.
My friend, Jake, would have been
engrossed by "Betroffenheit"; its searing narrative, the dark humor, its attention
to each visual detail, the intricate sound design, and Pite’s captivating
choreography. I wish he could have seen it.
“Betroffenheit” was presented in
Seattle by On the Boards and Seattle Theater Group, and if you missed it, you’ll
have to travel south to Portland. It’s worth the trip.
You still have another weekend to
catch Pacific Northwest Ballet’s annual Director’s Choice program. As PNB’s
artistic director Peter Boal wryly noted on opening night, he’s the chooser, and
what he chose were three contemporary works.
The biggest pre-show buzz was for
New York City Ballet soloist Justin Peck’s “Year of the Rabbit.” The piece was
innovative and fresh, and exciting in its own way. But I was more moved by
Alejandro Cerrudo’s “Little mortal jump.”
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| PNB's Elizabeth Murphy and Dylan Wald in "Little mortal jump" photo by Angela Sterling |
The ballet begins with a literal
jump: company member Price Suddarth runs through the audience, climbs up onto
the stage, then plunges into the orchestra pit. His leap is echoed upstage by
James Moore, who descends into a dreamily dark and humorous world, accompanied by a
musical mix that runs the gamut from Philip Glass to Tom Waits.
“Little mortal jump” unfolds in a
series of duets, from Moore and Leah Merchant’s comically sultry intertwining,
to Suddarth and Chelsea Adomaitis releasing themselves from their costumes
which are velcroed to large black cubes, to Jerome Tisserand and Elle Macy, lovely as always, to
the tenderly thrilling duo of Dylan Wald and Elizabeth Murphy.
Cerrudo’s “Little mortal
jump” is about all the small joys of being alive; about laughter, and risk,
and love. To me, he seems to be saying ‘You are born into this world, but to
live fully, you need to take that jump, to seize the chances that come your
way, to spin and whirl with the energy of your fellow human beings.’
My friend Jake seized his life by
the lapels and lived it well. Alejandro Cerrudo’s dance reminded me to do the
same thing.
See Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “Director’s
Choice” at McCaw Hall March 24-27.
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| Jake Seniuk, died 3/18/2016 photo by Alan Lande |
