Rena Butler’s “This, That, and the Third.” Photo by Jessie Ferguson.
It would be easy to forget that the performers in Saturday night’s performance by the students of the George Mason University Dance Company are just that—students. I have seen plenty of less convincing productions of simpler repertoire by seasoned professional companies. The evening had something for everyone: a Martha Graham excerpt, works by contemporary choreographers Kyle Abraham and Rena Butler (Kyle Abraham was this season’s artist in residence at George Mason University (read the review here), and a neoclassical-esque barefoot ballet by former George Mason Dance Department Head Susan Shields.
It would be easy to forget that the performers in Saturday night’s performance by the students of the George Mason University Dance Company are just that—students.
The program opened with Martha Graham’s “Steps in the Street” (an excerpt from her 1936 work “Chronicle”), a piece of choreography thought to have been lost until it was reconstructed from video footage by Graham and company dancer Yuriko in the 1980s. Inspired by the onset of fascism in Europe “Chronicle,” according to the program note from 1936, “Sets forth the fateful prelude to war, portrays the devastation of spirit which it leaves in its wake, and suggests an answer.” It’s as topical today as it was 90 years ago.
When the Martha Graham Dance Company performed the full length version of “Chronicle” in March of 2020 at the Kennedy Center, Washington Post dance critic Sarah Kaufman said that “Chronicle” “contains Graham’s ideas, if not her brilliance” and that “looks like Graham 2.0, with the dancers’ 21st-century aerobic bounces and extreme flexibility.” At least for this performance, I have to disagree. “Steps in the Street” felt as Graham as it gets. It was something out of history, but without feeling dusty. From the opening’s slow backward walks in silence, each ending with an abrupt stop, to the repeated series of two-footed jumps, it was an excellent showcase for the students’ technical precision and emotional punchiness. Students from George Mason University will reprise this performance in April when the Martha Graham Dance Company appears at Center for the Arts as part of the Mason Great Performances series.
Kyle Abraham’s “Drive” had an entirely different vibe. Commissioned by New York City Center in 2017, “Drive” felt like a dance club with the dancers entering alone or in twos and threes, before pulsating together in front of a series of bright lighting installations on the stage. If the choreographic structure of the work was fairly simplistic—a soloist or small group enters, dances, and is then replaced by another soloist or small group—the intricate phrase work was not. I particularly enjoyed the way the dancers manipulated the sense of time, whipping and streaking through a series of arcing arm movements or one-handed inversions before lingering in the suspension and sensuality of the next step.
“This, That, and the Third” by Rena Butler opened the second half of the program and was my favorite work of the evening. Inspired by the performance of code-switching, “This, That, and the Third” was a work for six dancers, danced in Saturday’s performance by Odin Brock, Joshua Dias, Sanaa Fairley, Morgan Olschewske, Nateisha Reaves, and Kalen Simpson. It felt like an introspective progression from isolated anxiety to collective joy. Beginning with the six dancers in a row across the stage wearing white shorts, knee-pads, and shirtless or in white tank tops, the whole work had a modern art gallery aesthetic. Five of the dancers left the stage and the remaining dancer pulled a baggy, translucent yellow mesh tracksuit over her white undergarments. It was a moment of self contemplation and wrestling with individual identity. The other dancers returned with similar outfits in different colors. Over the course of the work, the dancers confronted the identities of their characters, either alone against a relation to the group, or in pairs. The choreography was just technical as “Drive,” but it wasn’t technique simply for the sake of performing intricate phrases to build a vibe, it was technique in the service of bringing the audience on a shared journey with the performers.
The evening closed with Susan Shield’s “Visions and Miracles” set to the music of Christoper Theofanidis. “Visions and Miracles” was an exhibition of barefoot ballet technique and athletic partnering. Over the course of the work’s three sections, the dancers would press the women over their heads and run across the stage in flocks. The effect this created was of more three-dimensional murmuration within the space, rather than one that simply existed at floor level.
Running Time: Approximately two hours, including one 15-minute intermission.
George Mason University Dance Company’s 2024 Gala Concert was performed on March 22-23, 2024 at George Mason University Center for the Arts, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030. For more information and to purchase tickets for upcoming events, go online.
