Article By Joy Chiang Ling
Photo credit Xue Liang
Eternal NOW by White Wave Dance is a contemporary dance performance choreographed by Young Soon Kim. The performance stars nine dancers: Steven Trumon Gray, Kelly Garone, Misuzu Hara, Guanglei Hui, Juhwan Hwang, Anton Martynov, Emily Pope-Blackman, Mikelle Rindflish, and Mei Yamanaka.
The piece opens up with a solo dancer standing in front of a column of light that gradually widens until the other dancers arrive on stage. What follows is a series of duets, solo and group dances that consist of a wide variety of complicated and impressively athletic movements. Some notable scenes were highly sensual. The dancers often intertwined and almost looked as if they were one unit. The performance was clearly meant to arouse.
What makes this performance unique is its interesting use of technology. Small, inconspicuous cameras were placed on several sides of the stage to capture the dancers’ movements. Their moving images were then projected onto the background, and, with the help of computers, filtered in interesting styles that matched the mood of the particular scene. The projections were visually stunning, and added a distinctive flair to the atmosphere of the stage.
Also impressive was the music, which was composed by Marco Cappelli. Cappelli utilized computers, mixers and a quirky, guitar-like instrument that produced a wide assortment of sounds. What resulted from his handiwork was an industrial, rhythmic score that, at times, synchronized perfectly with the dancers’ movements.
Each part of the performance expressed powerful emotions, largely thanks to the dancers themselves, who were able to fulfill their roles very convincingly. Love and sexuality were strong themes, as were the various emotional side effects that come with romantic affairs. Some scenes seemed aggressive, others looked like they were meant to express envy – they are up to interpretation. Individual audience members are sure to find something they can relate to in the performance.
Skillful dancing, impactful lighting, offbeat music and provocative visuals make Eternal NOW a memorable piece. It will be featured at the BAM Fisher from June 19 to June 22, 2014.
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