Experiencing the Mark Morris Dance Group in their Tel Aviv performances this past week, has brought me as close as I may ever be to knowing what it would be like to have Synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sense leads to the involuntary experience of another – like seeing colors when hearing sounds. All the elements of the performance work together, a complex design that converges in an experience of beauty. Image, sound, and movement merge in harmonious compositions suffused with joyous vivacity. The dancers and musicians of the Mark Morris Dance Group entranced with their grace, playful humor, and artistic excellence.
Falling Down Stairs moves from pious to playful to Bach’s Suite No. 3 in C for solo cello. Clad in velvet jewel hues of rich reds, purples, and green (wonderful costumes by Isaac Mizrahi), the dancers are first seen in a pyramid formation on a set of stairs, arms reaching up. Stairway to heaven perhaps, or the stairs of a stadium? Take the metaphor anywhere you will, and Morris does, much to the delight of the viewer, at one point giving the words ‘leap of faith’ a striking physical interpretation. The company is composed of dancers with different physical attributes and qualities, enhancing the overall richness of the performance. In this work, there is a lovely sequence of micro-solos that showcases the dancers’ individual talents.
Cargo begins with a wink to Stanley Kubrick, as the dancers, attired in pristine white undergarments, gaze in animalistic curiosity at a pole lying on the stage. Darius Milhaud’s jazzy La création du monde (The Creation of the World) sparkles in this very physical piece. In the many variations on fun things to do with a pole, one of my favorite moments was when six dancers in a row, facing alternate directions, held on to the pole moving in elegant folds like a human machine.
Three Preludes (Gershwin) is a snazzy solo, with long limbed carefree leaps alternating with despondent languid moves, a dance of style and flair, outfitted in elegant black by Isaac Mizrahi. If I’ve identified the dancer correctly from the program, it’s Laurel Lynch, and she was simply superb!
The first program came to a celebratory conclusion with the aptly named Festival Dance, and then I was off to see the second program on the following night.
Pacific opened this evening with its wonderful curving swirls of movement and gorgeous costumes by Martin Pakledinaz. Dance flowed with the rhythms of the ocean, in blue green leaps and turns. This was followed by Falling Down Stairs, as much of a delight on the second viewing as on the first.
Silhouettes is an elegant duet with a mischievous sense of boudoir intimacy. This couple flits, prances, skips, shimmies, and spins over the full space of the stage, a parade of styles offered with exuberance and style.
Morris’ perfect sense of composition extends to the structure of the evening, ending once more on a festive note, with 16 dancers performing in THE, to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major.
