The American Dance Festival, 2000

July 1, 2000

Trisha Brown presented "The Trilogy," a new, evening length, work set to original music by Dave Douglas, at ADF 2000. Brown, one of the young mavericks of post-modern dance back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, continues to be one of the top proponents of the "body as instrument" school of choreography, in which expression of music through movement assumes importance over any dramatic or narrative theme.

In "Five Part Weather Invention," the first piece of the Trilogy, Brown allows a playful game of "follow-the-leader" to evolve into a complex interweaving of movement. Every dancer does the same movements but starts the sequence at a different time, sort of like singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in rounds. The result is a moving mosaic of movement, much harder to do than it appears. Brown’s dancers manage to instill some of the spontaneity and fun of improvisation into this unquestionably thoroughly choreographed piece.

The second work of the Trilogy, "Rapture to Leon James," captures the spirit of the Lindy-Hop, made famous in Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom in the ‘30s, without aping any of the traditional lindy moves.

For "Groove and Countermove," the final piece, the dancers once again are in comfortable, brightly colored clothes, performing in front of black and white line art created by artist Terry Winters. The simplicity of the staging has the effect of focusing attention on the movements themselves. These are, for the most part, relatively ordinary movements, in the sense that they aren’t overtly athletic. No feats of strength or endurance make the audience "ooh" and "ahhh."

On the other hand, Brown uses an unusually broad vocabulary of movement - arms and legs turn in as well as out; toes flex as often as they point. Steps are by turn graceful and angular, but a stream of energy flows through them, making each movement seem to arise inevitably from the one before.

Brown’s choreography works in much the same way as a cubist painting. Discreet parts combine in the observer’s perception to form a whole work of art. Instead of watching one soloist, Brown’s work encourages an audience to watch the patterns formed by the entire company of dancers, moving as an organic whole.

We found this evening of dance mentally stimulating, exciting in an intellectual way. You might call Trisha Brown’s works "thinking (wo)man’s dance." Watching them, the mathematics that underlie music, and the dynamics that underlie dance, can be sensed.

— R.Wright