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Below is an excerpt, for full "Dance Beat" article click
here:
http://www.artsjournal.com/dancebeat/2014/05/the-new-in-the-old-the-old-in-the-new/
Deborah Jowitt on bodies in motion
The very diverse choreographers of the two new works echo
themes and elements of the Limón works, as their titles
suggest. McIntyre’s solo for Roxane D’Orleans Juste is named
She Who Carries the Sky and the full-company piece by
Sean Curran is called Nocturnes for Ancestors.
McIntyre has cast D’Orleans Juste, who is celebrating her
thirtieth anniversary with the company, as a hero, who, like
The Just Man of Psalm, is unaware that she is one of
those people strong enough to bear any burden and have been
chosen by God to carry part of the sky on their heads (a
program quote from Edwige Danticat’s Breath, Eyes, Memory
makes this statement).
D’Orleans Juste—eloquent at conveying nuances both
choreographic and emotional—appears as a powerful figure, a
shaman maybe. Standing in a pool of light (lighting by
Brandon Stirling Baker), she seems to stir the air, to
conjure things from the earth. Once, twice, she staggers
backward, as if her exertions have stirred up a bee hive.
Aware of everything around her, D’Orleans Juste bows to the
four corners of the stage and often peruses the sky, as if
anticipating a storm. She performs the familiar gestures of
covering her eyes, her ears, her mouth, except that she
pries that mouth open wide to let who knows what escape. She
holds up a scarf as a kind of talisman or wraps it around
herself.
The sounds of a rainstorm interrupts music by Jon Hassel and
by Farafina and R. Carlos Nakari, then fades into silence.
Did she cause that?
In this portrait (a trifle drawn out, but vivid), McIntyre
capitalizes on D’Orleans Juste’s gift for tempering small
explosions of movement and sharp little gestures with
bigger, more melting steps and space-covering runs. If
you’re carrying the sky, you’d better be adaptable. Sheer
muscle power won’t cut it.
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