Dance review: Collage Dance Theatre's 'Governing Bodies' at L.A. City Hall

The brass was out in force and so were the suits.  Cellphone yammering also meant that power brokers were making deals, greasing the wheels of justice.  Or were they?  This was not your typical day at Los Angeles City Hall, the historic edifice built in 1928. 

In fact on Saturday night, the assembled masses were called together by a trumpeter (composer Daniel Rosenboom), while members of Collage Dance Theatre, founded by Heidi Duckler in 1985, slid, slithered and sauntered about the cool marble floor of the Byzantine-style rotunda. “Governing Bodies,” Duckler’s 60-minute premiere (repeating Saturday at 4 and 9 p.m.), had begun. The politics of performance could be likened to real-life machinations:  The conception, smart and idealistic; the execution, disappointing and not quite, well, democratic, at least from this audience member’s point of view. 

For Duckler, queen of site-specific dance, choreography relies on spaces other than traditional stages.  The rotunda provided beauty and fine sight lines:  It was easy to check out b-boy Rawbzilla’s head-twirlings and Marissa Labog’s, Albertossy Espinoza’s and Ja-Young Kim’s purposeful sliding in socks. As the music crescendoed (Gavin Templeton and Vinny Golia added clarinets and saxes to Rosenboom’s dense score), the circle dance, even with neo Irish-stepdancing and handholding, felt right. Performers and viewers were united, and -- pardon the pun -- on seemingly equal footing.

But the long narrow hallway proved problematic. While elegiac clarinet and alto sax provided aural stimulation, it was difficult to watch the dancers from our crushed-near-the-back makeshift seats. Kim and Rawbzilla did a sullen duet; Espinoza, Willy Souly and Flannery Gregg pounded on closed doors. Unfortunately, even Terpsichore couldn’t penetrate these corridors of power, where claustrophobia permeated the dancers’ squirming bodies and repetition ruled, despite the occasional arabesque torqued to a wall.

The council chamber was another matter.  Seated in pews of this church-like room, one could barely see the “meeting” unfold.  Dancers ran, jumped and twirled a bit, but the only visible sign of anarchy was somebody throwing piles of papers in the air.  Lianne Arnold’s video -- a guy literally talking about trash –- was weird and unfunny, having little to do with politics, of the body or otherwise.

Small redemption came with the finale on the wonderfully expansive Spring Street steps.  With Disney Concert Hall and downtown L.A. as backdrop, this locale provided opportunities for big moves, with some 22 dancers participating to a noble accompaniment of horns, winds and vocals.  But “Aida” it wasn’t.  Buses cruised by; Labog did backbends, clung to a lamppost, stretched; a neo-flamencan stomped out justice; b-boys hip-hopped in tentative spurts.  And there was even a powerful moment of unison crawling, but, like the great mare Zenyatta, Duckler, too, came up short this time in her sprint to City Hall.

-- Victoria Looseleaf

Collage Dance Theatre’s “Governing Bodies” repeats at Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, Sat., 4 p.m. (sold out) and 9 p.m., $25-$40, (818) 784-8669 or www.collagedancetheatre.org

RECENT AND RELATED:

  For Heidi Duckler, it's location, location, location

Dancing in architecture -- meet Heidi Duckler

Ralph Lemon's "How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?"

Images: The Collage Dance Theatre at City Hall. Credits: Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Michael B. Lehrer]

While there may have been some minor sight line issues, as there probably would be on virtually any, non proscenium "stage", they pale next to experiencing the transformative engagement of this iconic-otherwise-business-as-usual-place.

The formal opportunities and inherent beauty of the building was exhillaratingly demonstrated by the dance(s) of the spaces.

The use of the place: Each scene was potent, distinct, and memorable.
The music: simple, completely encompassing, and stylish/beautiful.

For me, as an architect with a soft spot for long attenuated spaces, the corridor scene was actually the most magical:
The trumpets at both ends-- their dialogue and amazing acoustics--the reflections of the Flavinish flourescent lights serially in the walls, and the dance, extremely foreshortened.

Personally, I am sending lots of folks to next week's perfomances because it is so appealing and unusual. It is a phenom, unique, not to be repeated. For anybody who spends any time in City Hall, it is sort of a must....I don't think one will ever see or hear the space the same.

[Nancy Griffin]

Victoria Looseleaf's response to Governing Bodies was not shared by the rest of the audience, which was intoxicated by the the breathtaking dancing and music that filled City Hall on Saturday night. As is always the case with site-specific dance, the audience was asked to follow the dancers and good sight lines were available in all four of the performance's locations; in the Council Chambers segment, all one had to do was stand up to see perfectly. Looseleaf missed the point of democracy in all its chaos, a theme which Duckler developed throughout the piece and which reached a crescendo in the dramatic finale on the Spring Street steps. Anyone who wants to experience a transcendent work of art in a monumental Los Angeles building should ignore this review and run down to City Hall next week-end.

[Jon Stolzberg]

Overall, I really enjoyed the evening and I applaud Collage Dance Theatre's work. I think anyone who can should take advantage of the opportunity to experience their work in this dramatic space that is at the heart of our city. With the recent election just concluded, and the issues of governance during these trying economic times very much on our minds, this performance is timely and relevant.

I thought, however, it could have been more eloquent in amplifying the ideas presented in the movement. While the dancers engaged with the architecture of this unique space, and with each other in energetic and evocative ways, the piece could have explored some of the ideas of democracy, government, power, community in a more forceful manner. The piece seemed more descriptive than challenging - perhaps a missed opportunity in these challenging times.

I agree with Ms,. Looseleaf about the problematic staging. As a theatre director, I am always concerned with sightlines and the audience experience. Granted, in a site specific piece, you don't always have the luxury of perfect sightlines - but in two of these four pieces I really couldn't see much at all. In the second piece in that hallway, I was seated near the front - still - only by craning my neck, and blocking the people sitting behind me, could I get a partial view of the dance. In the council chamber, I was seated towards the back, and had a very limited view of the dancers on the dais area. When dancers moved through the aisles, I could only see their upper movements.

I also found the video unfunny and a weird appendage to the movement. I also didn't understand the connection to trash...?

The outdoor piece worked well for me. The music - as it was throughout - was beautiful and moving. Seeing and hearing the city presence in the background added to the grandeur of the setting. By the end of the piece I had a visceral experience of what it means for all the diverse elements of a city's population to come together in its management for the common good.

However, the way the lighting was structured, when I tried to watch the dancers on the side walls at the beginning, the lights were in my eyes - interfering with my enjoyment of the piece.

[Corin L. Kahn]

I thought the performance on Saturday evening was marvelous. I feel like I have some familiarity with Heidi Duckler’s work, having attended a few performances. I could see a lot of thought and imagination, but most importantly, genuine feelings about race, youth, love, and the business of and the ridiculous face of governance.

I have sat in those chambers many times and heard all of the stuff Ms. Duckler so ably synthesized into the performance without biting the hand that allowed her to perform there. I most enjoyed the last act, out on the stairs. I loved the lateral disappearances and appearances and the various ethnic movements. Her dancers were superb, she tapped into their DNA.

I commend Collage Dance Theatre’s hard work and man can they throw a party!