Kravas and Wade Occupy Danspace
October 9, 2011
in your face
Bessie award winner Heather Kravas took competition dancer Kassidy Chism's performance as inspiration. Kassidy Chism premiered in a Danspace Project program shared with Jeremy Wade at St. Marks Church October 6th.
Kravas wonderfully mimics the ten-year-old superstar and then she turns up the volume. The adult interpretation features bleating and humping. After affixing her dress waist-high with gaffers tape and dropping her black lace panties over her big pink sneakers, she creates a mesmerizing rhythm on all fours—repeating a sexual, mechanical rocking combination about 1,000 times. To get a sense of the heroism in performance, try this mooning in front of someone at home. After seeing KC, you know the phrase.
Kravas at once refines and debases whiz kid Chism's cute and decidedly virtuoso moves. The Chisms might be horrified; Danspace audiences are a savvy set, but a poll might find at least some who did not catch the refinement. KC is literally naval-gazing—like coming of age.
in his image
Both Kravas and Wade make loud, animalistic, and upchucking noises part of their sound scores. The dances engage us in different ways. Wade charms us with strained and slightly contorted movement In fountain. He jumps like a centaur into upstage corners on the Church banquettes. Describing the space in excited speech, his plan unfolds.
Wade's translucent T just barely reveals the bold-face tattoo hint or tip "PARTICIPATE." He has us gather at the altar and then form a circle around the perimeter of the performing area. He speaks about our part in "charging the space." Wade corrals the energy of the many, the 99%. We are the sheep in this feel-good dance.
Dancing in the middle of the space, Wade's outstretched arms lift the air around him as if he is master of the upper world, walking on cloud cover. We are on the horizon. Whooshing sounds—in Tian Rotteveel's score and Wade's scatting—help create the effect. Kathy Kaufman's bright lights are right as rain.
Wade instructs us to walk toward and push outward against the building walls. Ending his optimistic dance, he announced a collection for DRA (Dancers Responding to AIDS). After Kassidy, Wade rewarded us with a simulated afterlife where people are capable and curable.
