AMANDA MILLER AND THE PRETTY UGLY DANCE COMPANY
Literary quotations included in the program for three of the four works have to do with a sense of home. “One of the central acts is . . . connecting ourselves, however temporarily, with a place on the planet which belongs to us, and to which we belong,” goes the quotation (from novelist Junichiro Tanizaki) for St. Nick, a duet Miller dances with Michael Schumacher. A draped white floor and a white backdrop that leans toward us like a tent create an enclosed, cozy space, and by the end of the piece the dancers are as cozy as two friendly dogs, rolling their butts together, then glancing at each other and walking unceremoniously downstage for a bow.
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Night, By Itself spreads the entire company out on the stage like chess pieces in a dimly lit moonscape. The commissioned music, “Absinthe” by John Zorn, is moody, not propulsive; and the stage is set with sculptures by Cara Perlman that look like glass but fly up at a touch. The gestures are dark: thoughtfully tapping the insides of the wrists together suggests suicide, walking with the shoulders pulled high makes the dancers look like they think they’re about to be hit. The slight disjointedness and lack of closure that mark the earlier dances almost overwhelm this one.
