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neverend and skindiving: nicholasleichterdance
by Anna Shevel
The nicholasleichterdance company is under the artistic direction of New Yorker Nicholas Leichter. The choreography is a new age of dance, creating a harmony between contemporary themes of sexuality and a fusion of Latin and hip-hop music. The dancers promote great energy, as they are familiar with the story of their dance. The dancers' passion for what they are doing and devotion to the entire production are clearly seen in their performances.
The audience first experiences this modern setting through a single spotlight, emphasizing the focus on harmony. The first piece flows by very calmly and gradually, with an ongoing echo of Latin American culture through the music. The movements are very smooth, as is all of Leichter's choreography, except for the first piece which is characterized by sharp, swift angles. The female dancer performing in this portion, Holly Handman, is eventually left alone to become translucent due to a dimming of the lights. The solo act turns into a duet, formed by very intimate and familiar sexual relations. As the audience sees the relationship weakening and becoming tenser as the male dancer sees other women, the light brightens once again. This is seen through the entire show. Relationships form and as one dancer becomes closer to another and feels a connection with him/her, the two begin to reach towards the ground and for each other. Rolling on top of each other is expressed as an act of ambivalence and indecisiveness; the dancers have the option to unite as one and remain in that position as if a sense of reality pushes them to experience and let go.
Through the repetitive but very vivid acts performed by the dancers, one senses the importance of capture and release, and breaking off, resulting in destruction. This is the mode by which the theme becomes very clear. Thus as a spectator learning from an experience, one sits there anticipating the subsequent twosome that will be broken by a third party. This idea of betrayal of one due to an infatuation with another is very familiar to all, thus the ending is very exciting to an audience. Through the entire performance, the beats of the music and the change in the lighting are relative to the movements being carried out on stage. At points where there is a smooth congregation of several dancers, in the center of the stage, the eye sees what is to come and the beautiful embrace travels as a current against rocks. Once one adapts to the basic idea of throwing one another back and forth and circulating around each dancer, expressing interest but hesitation, the patterns begin to form. At one point, there is a series of pairs. Two are very solemn, another two are vigorous, another pair is broken. As the pair is broken by one other dancer, three other dancers congregate and then three others, like a flock of sheep, all reaching the same point in the finale the point of betrayal. This performance was performed with as much effort as it was rehearsed, and the dedication and admiration for the work is clearly seen from the moment it commences, lasting until the very last step.
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