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Flash Review 2, 3-27: DD Deconstructionist
...And her Human Future Dance Corps

By Faith Pilger
Copyright 2001 Faith PiIger

A Southern belle. A hidden camera. A suspended floor of Spandex. Two towers of plastic fans. A small house. A pig mask. A storm on the sea. Zeus and Leda gave birth to an egg from which sprang the twins, Castor and Pollux, according to the Greek myth. DD Dorvillier, in collaboration with Peter Jacobs and Dorvillier's dancers, presented "Wind (The Eternal Return of the Same)," inspired by this myth, at The Kitchen last week. There was talk of horses. Women shaved their faces on-screen. Schoolgirls in uniform sang in monotone: "I need a smoke...Give me a goddamn smoke." It was a cryptic tale.

Truly, I was mystified. Like when you wake from a dream which oddly melds the time and place, real remembered events and fantastic lies of the imagination. I had forgotten details from the myth and would have welcomed Cliff-notes in the program. But even if I had remembered that the Dioscuri had special skills, in horse taming and boxing, I don't think I would have made a connection beyond the obvious.

Sarah Michelson, as the twin to Dorvillier, suddenly donned boxing gloves. Like a surrealist painting, it was the image that was of significance. A wall of seven breasts. Two carousel horse heads. A skateboard. A folk song. Ballerinas.

Suddenly, darkness. Chanting. "You. are. alone. You. are. alone. You. are. alone." I felt alone. Castor was dead.

The first part of the 90-minute program was lighter though still absurd and unsettling. A Southern belle was going to the Museum of Natural History. She smiled through a hidden camera with a sweetness that was unbearable. The dancers oozed from the "egg" in a section I dubbed Invasion of the Blue Body Snatchers: a curiously sculptural bond of bodies in blue lace full-bodytards.

After Castor died, there were shrouds, and darker colors. A horseshoe made of roses was straddled by Michelson. Throughout, the shadows and air were beaten with rags in an almost ritualist manner.

Michelson grabbed a mic as it was lowered from the ceiling. She spoke about her twin with sadness, but with the same poetic chaos that rang throughout the evening. I heard. I was interested. But I didn't understand.

According to the myth, after Castor was slain, Pollux was inconsolable over the loss. He had been granted immortality and begged his father to be able to share this with his twin. It was consented that the two brothers could remain together by alternately observing life under the earth and in the heavens. Ms. Dorvillier succeeded in expressing the unity of this pair, inseparable even when fighting and trying to find themselves individually. Each had unique movement ideas and very strong performance qualities. However, the movement of the group was sometimes too repetitive or predictable, and the end of the dance seemed to drift. I found myself not worried about the meaning or message. But I wondered why, with so much media involved in this live montage, it seemed so minimalist.

Human Future Dance Corps (I love this name), included Willa Carroll, Anika Tromholt Kristensen, John Wyszniewski, Gayle Gibbons, Jessica Reese Dessner and, of course, DD Dorvillier and Sarah Michelson. The visual and sound design were masterfully created by the brothers Tal and Guy Yarden and photographic images provided by Bob Braine and Eileen Travell.

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