Ballet Embody presents “Dance Mosaic: A Showcase of Local Dance” in Carroll County. Photo by PBK Digital.
There is always something special about seeing dance in a space where you are so close to the performers you could reach out and touch them. Synergy Space, a converted dance studio space above The Gym in the Town Mall of Westminster is one of those venues. On proscenium stages, where the dancers are separated from the audience by the fourth wall, it is easy to forget that they are real people and the human can vanish behind the ethereal. But with chairs on three sides, and the audience close enough to hear the dancers’ breathing, there was no forgetting that the performers on stage were people. Despite the low ceilings, it was an ideal atmosphere for an evening billed as a showcase of local dance and an intimate look at the choreographic process with performances by Ballet Embody, joined by performers from Diffusion Dance Company, choreographer Ryan Bailey, and featuring work from choreographer Falkner Discher, as well as a performance of original choreography by students from the Ballet Embody School.
A work for three dancers in three sections, “Trinity” was a graceful journey from chaos through solitude, ending with togetherness and a sense of moving forward. The collaborative musicality of the work was a highlight of the evening.
The evening opened with “The Raven,” choreographed by Ballet Embody Co-founder Emily Runkle, an excerpt from Ballet Embody’s upcoming full-length performance of “An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe.” Set to the text of Poe’s ubiquitous poem narrated by Geoff Castellucci, “The Raven” seemed to be pulled between two approaches: an interior psychological understanding of the text, and a literal one. Performed by Melissa Lineburg and Madison Bonovissuto Ryan, the psychological aspect of the choreography was the more compelling. With a piece of writing as well-known and overdetermined as “The Raven,” I found the interrogation of the emotional state of the narrative voice to be a richer subject matter than the lyrical dramatization of the poem’s text.
The middle third of the program consisted of shorter works by guest choreographers Bailey, Discher and CJ Gordon of Diffusion Dance Company, as well as Ballet Embody’s students. Diffusion Dance Company is a Christian dance group based in York, Pennsylvania, and Gordon’s work “Any Kind of Life” strongly reflected that mission with a solid grounding in contemporary and lyrical competition dance vocabulary. Discher’s work “Hierarchy” was in a similar fast and choreographically dense vein. But with one dancer in white, one in blue, and one in a blue and white tie dye, it leaned more into the costumes and the lyrics of the music, Half Alive’s “Nobody,” than the choreography to convey its message about breaking down structures.
The program closed with choreographer and Ballet Embody Co-Founder Melissa Lineburg’s “Trinity,” featuring live original music performed by the composer Arsen Sumbatyan. With dancers Bonvissuto, Rebecca Dunphy, and Lineburg, “Trinity” was a strong closer. A work for three dancers in three sections, “Trinity” was a graceful journey from chaos through solitude, ending with togetherness and a sense of moving forward. The collaborative musicality of the work was a highlight of the evening. As audiences, we are much less used to seeing music made to fit choreography than we are choreography made to fit music. Especially in a world where almost all dance music is pre-recorded, we perceive musicality in choreography in terms of seeing what dancers hear rather than in terms of listening to what musicians and composers see. “Trinity” was originally choreographed to music by Steve Reich, but Sumbatyan’s fluid piano and soaring smoky trumpet bore little, if any, resemblance to Reich’s sparsity. It should be noted that Sumbatyan is also a highly regarded dance accompanist and jazz musician. With the aid of a loop pedal, Sumbatyan simultaneously played trumpet and keyboard. To quote him during the audience talk-back, ‘I never did anything like this before!’ He told the story of how he had composer’s block for weeks before he realized that Lineburg wanted him to play both instruments. It was a journey of discovery for both artists. Although Synergy Space is a hidden gem, I would love to see and hear “Trinity” performed in a larger, more acoustically friendly venue.
Running Time: Approximately one hour with no intermission.
“Dance Mosaic: A Showcase of Local Dance” ran for two performances on Saturday, April 6, 2024 at Synergy Space, The Gym, 400 N Center St, Westminster, MD 21157. The earlier performance featured Falkner Discher’s “Cheering You On” in place of CJ Gordon’s “Any Kind of Life” More information about Ballet Embody is available online.
