Wayne McGregor/ Random Dance -- Review
Wayne McGregor/ Random Dance
Dance
Performance
Lam
Research Center at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
January
19, 2014
This is an abstract study in movement and agility. It starts out with a male/female couple in a
rather contentious vignette against a beautiful vocal sound track. The opening segment was intriguing, however,
the rest of the performance seemed to be a repudiation of this promising outset. It was as if this opening represented
something from the past that had given way to something much harsher, with less
human connection and less emotional content.
Perhaps it is an oblique comment on modern life. In any case the subsequent segments were set
against clashing, percussive electronic
soundtracks that incorporated sounds like the din of a factory, passing trains,
jet airplanes on an airport runway, cars with stereos thumping full blast. Intrusive, noisy, discordant sounds. Blaring strobe lights add to this grating
atmosphere of unpleasantness in an aggressive frontal assault on the
audience. The dance that was set in
front of all this was active, if not frenetic.
Movements are fluid, but staccato, disjointed, contorted and sometimes
grotesque. There is interaction between
the dancers, but emotional connection seems shallow. Bodies are emphasized by the almost nude
costuming, but there is little eroticism.
The eroticism is fleeting and subdued.
There is a feeling of detachment and narcissism throughout, like the
activity on the streets of a large city where people are busily and anxiously
active, but completely self absorbed and indifferent to others with whom they
might be sharing the street and even casually interacting. This performance seemed determined to
minimize emotional interaction. The
dancers did an admirable job with a physically demanding program. It lasted one hour without an intermission --
which I appreciated. The length was just
about right, because this strident, relentless cacophony gets to be
taxing. It was not exactly to my taste,
but it did have interest.