CHICAGO MOVING COMPANY
A pastiche of text and movement, most of it written and choreographed by Shineflug, divided into nine sections, On Surviving is eclectic, ironic, and steeped in a kind of mysticism that hasn’t been popular in 20 years. Veering one way and then another, it cancels itself out over and over–which I assume is the point. The title of the first section, “Keep Putting One Foot in Front of the Other,” is a piece of tired old advice for tired old people, but the dancing is vibrantly alive and joyous and childlike. The dancers (Darryl Fleming, Holly Quinn, Eileen Sheehan, Wendy Taylor, and Dennis Wise) run full out; swing around a floor-to-ceiling pole; climb the rope ladders scattered about the stage; leap up at one of the Dance Center’s bare walls, turn in an instant like a wave dashed against a cliff, and leap out with arms extended and chins up as if flying. The next section, “Embrace the Changes,” explains the contrast: Shineflug tells a story about how as a child she loved to throw herself down a hill, rolling down over and over again, and how her “very Germanic, anhedonistic” uncle made her stop. Then she shows her joy in movement by dancing herself, naming each motion as she performs it, smiling throughout.
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In Shineflug’s choreography, movements tend to swing out from the dancer’s center and return; her constant point of reference is the solar plexus. This centeredness is very apparent in her own dancing: the motions themselves are less important than her absolute, constant confidence and self-awareness. Simply rolling across the floor in the opening solo of Egypt she makes us feel–because she feels-every millimeter of skin on the floor, the shifting weight of her flesh, the torsion of her bones. A similar centeredness marks the beginning of the trio that follows, as two dancers come into sync with Sheehan, whose slow, continuous motions establish how grounded and balanced she is.
