Chance Dance Fest
Live performance gives us the opportunity to stare, to judge a person solely on his or her looks. And more than other performances, the annual Chance Dance Fest at Link’s Hall is laid-back, a lazy August showcase we’re invited to take or leave: stare or don’t stare, it makes no difference to these artists. The show I saw was made up of Bob Eisen’s dance New Quartet, which will be shown on every evening of the fest, and a solo performance piece by Jeff Dorchen, which will not.
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Despite its nondescript title, Eisen’s quartet has a faint odor of political commentary. For one thing, part of the sound track is a short political speech complete with cheering; repeated three times in a row, it sounds a little more false, a little less passionate and committed each time, despite all the ranting about the “voice of freedom endangered.” For another, at one point the dancers change into costumes that recall the bright, geometric, skintight designs that jingoistic Olympic athletes wear. But these costumes, with their diamond patterns, also suggest the harlequin. And this section, with its surprising grabs and jazz layouts, is more athletic and crazy than the one that precedes it: Olympic athlete as puppet on a string.
Yet any sense of exclusion is eradicated by the final section. As usual, Eisen is using strong, idiosyncratic performers like himself, and this section ends with a kind of ceremony that reveals both the dancers’ differences and their common purpose. Each stands in one of the four corners, and they walk together to form a tight knot facing in; holding hands, they kneel and fall sideways into a rolling circle that breaks their hold on one another. When Eisen places a hand on both women’s shoulders, Guzman takes a running leap from behind them and rockets through their ranks. Then, as Eisen watches–the artist surveying his work–the other three dancers spin in unison.
