by Michael J. Fressola
While writers and visual artists have already produced responses to Sept. 11, new dances, music and theater are only beginning to surface now. Often collaborative and complicated, the performing arts take time.
But if even 10 percent of their response to 9/11 is as lovely as "Requiem," choreographed by Jacqulyn Buglisi and performed by Buglisi/ Foreman Dance this week at the Joyce Theater, then we may be entering a golden age. The piece is a luxurious eyeful, shamelessly, suberversively beautiful in the way that a funeral can be sad and distractingly gorgeous simultaneously. Beauty and passion are the consoling forces in this work, danced to Gabriel Faure's soaring "Requiem" mass. According to the press kit, Ms. Buglisi was researching the life/work of gifted Roman-born painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1652) and thinking about the repressions of female creativity and achievement, when she began "Requiem." It acquired other meanings and resonances but the Artemisia connection remains potent. She was a survivor. Having been raped at 19 by a family friend, she endured a public trial in which "witnesses" characterized as "an insatiable whore."
Her attacker was eventually convicted (although he served a negligible sentence) and she went on to become a professional painter in what was a boys-only club. Her specialty: Strong Biblical heroines like Judith and Ruth.
Largely ignored by art historians (much of her work was mistakenly attributed to her father), she has been receiving more attention in the past decade.
"Requiem" puts five company women (Terese Capucilli, Christine Dakin, Virginie Mecene, Rika Okamoto and Miki Orihara) into corset-like tops with full swirling skirts made of lengths of shimmering silk in the saturated colors of an Artemisia canvas -- scarlet, verdigris, brown. The predominant hue is the rich gold known today known as "Artemisia Gold."
The dancers, seated on square forms, take some of their cues from the music. The "Kyrie Eleison" ("Lord Have Mercy") of the mass, sends them into prayerful and suppliant gestures and poses. Somehow, though, it looks as if their prayers will not be answered.
In the post-Sept. 11 era, of course, "Requiem" moves easily out of 17th century Italy and into grief, frustration and loss. On opening night, the dancers of "Requiem" began to resemble a very human group of resplendently gowned angels undergoing crises after crises.
For a good part of the time, they dance in place, brandishing the trails of their raiment like weapons. Standing on their stools (and having let down their skirts) they become towering figures. Swirling in the center of the stage, in the passionate and articulate Martha Graham-derived vocabulary that is this company's signature, vulnerability returns.
The piece begins on a semi-misted stage that clears gradually much as Downtown has. Clifton Taylor's raking light design greatly enhances the price.
The evening's other new work, "Lisa D," is named for jazz composer Lisa DeSpain, whose score ("String Quartet No. 1 Rise and Fall") was performed live by the all-female Cassatt String Quartet, on stage with the four dancers.
Choreographed by Donlin Foreman, the piece is a jubilant romp for three men (Walter Cinquinella, Stephen Pier and Kevin Predmore) and one woman, Virginie Mecene.
Ms. Mecene, a petite and quicksilver figure very much resembles Ms. Dakin in her ability to project her presence.
The piece is a particularly good workout for the men, driven by the jazzy and full-bodied score. Elisa Jimenez made the intricately laced-and-pierced, form-fitting costumes.
Foreman and Ms. Capucilli, who have been dancing together for years, performed his "Ing," a 10-year-old work danced to Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 2. Familiarity breeds amazement in this open-hearted work, full of expansive movement.
Finally, there was the jazz dance party of "Mean Ole' World" Foreman's full-company work, performed to live accompaniment by composer Ms. DeSpain's Catfish Corner jazz crew. This 2001 again demonstrates unexpected flexibility and humor. Who would expect a company so steeped in the serious-minded Graham tradition to dance so naturally in the uncomplicated and contagious rush of the music.
The season's second program, tonight and tomorrow at 2 has a new work ("Dances for Seven"). The opening night program repeats tomorrow night and Sunday at 2. For reservations or information, call 212 242-0800.
