Conversation
From SimpleWiki
Conversation (2007) is a modern dance choreography exploring relationship in space, playing with magnetic tension, two bodies at a time. The videography by Jil Guyon transports us into an organic universe, highlighted by the soundscape by Thomas Bryan Eaton.
Contents |
Credits
Conceived by Floanne Ankah and Jil Guyon
Choreography and video editing by Floanne Ankah
Art video and costume Jil Guyon
Costume design Kat Martin
Performers Maia Sage Ermansons, Jil Guyon and Floanne Ankah
Soundscape by Thomas Bryan Eaton
Lighting Design by Alberto Bohl
Special Thanks to the Merce Cunningham Studio, Faye Ellman (photography), Christina Foster
This program has been made possible in part through the sponsorship of The Field.
Performances
December 17, 2006: Merce Cunningham Studio, 55 Bethune Street, New York City
January 9, 2007: Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway, New York City
February 10, 2007: BPM Studio, 237 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York
External Links
Review
Dance is, of course, a (mostly) wordless form of communication, but Floanne Ankah’s “Conversation” is quite literally that: a dialogue of movement and sound between two creatures in a geographically unknown, but psychologically familiar land.
The piece begins in silence with Jil Guyon standing before a projection of lush plant life in a flowing white dress with a vine-like train. Her hand covers her face and as she walks toward the audience and off stage, she extends it toward the audience, as if offering us something, maybe an invitation into their world.
Ankah and eleven-year-old Maia Sage-Ermansons then enter, running towards one another, pause a moment to inspect one another like inquisitive animals, and then begin a conversation of movement and segments of sound that range from the prosaic human to bird-like squeaks to Ankah’s nearly operatic notes. Ankah’s movement vocabulary shows the distinct influence of her Cunningham training; their isolated shapes and movements correspond well with the idea of a conversation, with each movement seeming to communicate a separate and complete thought in their enigmatic dialogue. Detailed hands that crawl like insects, clamp like bird beaks, and flutter like wings, add to the disorienting sense of land before (or after) time that Ankah has created.
No matter what or where these creatures are, their maternal relationship is familiar and beautiful. Ermansons’ movement relationship with Ankah is mostly imitative, and Ankah’s movement is often nurturing, as she cradles, lifts and protects the daughter-like Ermansons. Sometimes they are still and gaze at the audience.
The work as a whole conveys an eerie, yet endearing sense of motherhood outside of time and place.
—Erika Eichelberger, dance writer
