Constraints

Last week I went to see Nina Winthrop & Co.'s Constraints I, II & III. I didn't know anything about this company's work, except that I vaguely recall seeing one of their photographs displayed on their website as part of BAM's Next Wave last autumn (and I already told you how that went...). The reason I went was partially work-related; apparently, the choreographer had created the second of her Constraints while in residency at Morishita Studios in Tokyo -- ah, international collaboratioarf, I mean, collaborarf, a-hem, excuse me, collabarf, cough cough, collaboration. Sorry it's just a sensitive subject for me, both the "international" and the "collaboration" part. ANYHOO I went with a bunch of my co-workers.

Let me focus on what I thought were positive things first: The costumes, designed by Naoko Nagata conveyed the idea of constraint -- in I, the American dancers were dressed in jagged remnants of business suit material, anchored to their bodies by straps and belts. In II, the Japanese dancers were in colorful swaths of fabric, which, somewhat kimono-inspired, were tied to their bodies by sashes. In these dances that seemed to be about our tendencies to restrain oneself, the costumes worked towards epitomizing that idea, and very stylishly at that.

OK otherwise there was not much more there for me. I don't want to write about how inconsequential the American dancers were, especially compared to the Japanese performers who at least had stage presence and verve shining through the vapid choreography. There seemed to me that there was no exchange going on between dancer and choreographer -- no deep necessity for II to have been performed by Japanese dancers (if at all). This unfortunate evening was salvaged by (total non sequitur) great xiao long bao at Joe's Shanghai.