Theater Critic
At Momentum Dance Company’s recent Twentieth Anniversary Concert at the Colony Theatre, Artistic Director and guiding force Delma Iles served up a satisfying
brew of intriguing world premieres and substantial entries from Momentum’s repertoire.
Iles’ The Tyranny of Beauty, set to music by Cesar Franck, is a major four-part piece, the first part of
which, Beautiful/Unbeautiful, is a fascinating duet for Barbie Freeman and John Keith exploring the aesthetics of unaccustomed, awkward, “ugly” movements not within
the grammar of the received choreographic idiom. Part II: Pour Etre Belle… features five female dancers – and John Keith, very funny in drag – being pinched and tormented by
purposely off-putting lingerie to oozingly mournful music, as if a pinching bra strap were the acme of tragedy, hilariously spoofing our cult of appearance. Part III: Skin
Deep is an immensely poignant duet featuring Maite Diz Portella and Michelle Murray Carlson in cream bodysuits and grotesque masks, consoling each other, combining
graceful balletic moves with worry gestures in a sequence that affectingly explores the genuinely tragic element of the “tyranny of beauty” theme. Part IV: Mirror,
Mirror is a raucous farce with the entire company, obsessed with their images in hand held mirrors, climbing up into the house seats for sprightly shenanigans with the audience.
Personally, I prefer the bracing, category-bending first and third sections where Iles is making the very real demon she’s trying to exorcise in The Tyranny of Beauty less of a
laughable straw bogeyman.
Iles’ Brecht Suite, from 1995, is a decadently sensual knockout set to a Weimar era Brecht/ Weil score. It featured sizzling performances by three of our area’s
premier female modern dancers: Maite Diz Portella, Elizabeth Malm and Danella Bedford. Portella, in particular, is a compelling presence, combining razor-sharp wit with
engaging charisma.
The Anniversary Concert included two world premieres by Momentum’s Irmah DelValle – all of whose pieces could be prefaced with “And now for something
completely different….” Her Untitled might better be called Bathroom Humor. It’s a goofily slapstick group assault on our uptightness about bodily functions – and
uptightness in general – featuring a huge toilet bowl center stage out of which Portella crawls wearing a snorkel and flippers.
DelValle’s Never Free featured Nobis Licea as a Promethean hero/victim entrapped in netting and rope. It’s a powerful vehicle for Licea to display the
gymnastic prowess, ability to use his body as an expressive vehicle, and genius for working with props that he’s previously demonstrated in his work with Giovanni Luquini and Dancers.
Another highlight was former company member Lees Hummel’s One Hour Before Dawn from last season, an energetic romp of a group piece set to a beautiful
Celtic/ American folk score with lovely lyrical interludes. Its sheer exuberance lifts you and carries you away, although somewhat less so on second viewing.
What the Anniversary Concert didn’t include were examples of Iles’ more cutting edge and challenging choreography – probable a temporary, post 9/11 concession to being
accessible and “fan-friendly.” She’s a savvy, insightful and often compelling explorer in the postmodern vein. In any event, Iles and her talented and committed company are now the main
purveyors of Modern dance in these parts. We gratefully wish them another twenty years of accomplishment and success.
