Austinist Dance Review: Sally Jacques' Requiem
Ever since we landed here ‘bout 2 years back, we’ve been learning to embrace the “Austin performance aesthetic”. Equal parts inventive, amateurish, stunningly innovative and incessantly DIY, the scene here is about what you’d expect from a young, well-supported performance community in a rapidly growing city. We think it’s great. We love the energy. We dig the friendly, open vibe. But sometimes we yearn for work that’s not so obsessively frenetic. We want to see performance that feels less like the needy, acerbic assertions of a twentysomething, and more like the quietly confident statement of a seasoned artist.
In Sally Jacques’ Requiem, we found such a piece. Placed on the infamous eyesore (and soon to be demolished) “Intel Shell” at 4th and San Antonio, the piece played against the backdrop of the night sky. This connection to seemingly infinite space allowed the quality in Jacques’ work that, in productions past has seemed ever-so-slightly self-important, to feel wholly justified in its insistence that we were watching something magnificent. Quietly epic, and subtly moving, this visually stunning site-specific work kept us solidly engaged from beginning to end.
But that’s not because of the “dance”, per se. Though Jacques is billed as a choreographer, this is actually Requiem’s weakest link. Compared to the incredible use of space, strong aerial work, and beautifully orchestrated design, most of the movement feels – in artist speak – like “first choices”. In essence, the first thing that pops into your head, instead of a thoroughly investigated, well-explored expression of your meaning.
However, the production as a whole is so visually stunning that such minor transgressions are easily overlooked. If nothing else, it’s how the piece comes together. In one notable sequence, two dancers perform an aerial duet while suspending themselves with long pieces of white fabric. As the well-chosen music rises and falls with the ebb and flow of their soft, floating movement, the fabric from which they hang is carried by wind – as if it were, itself, dancing. In other moments, harnessed dancers throw themselves out into space – flying off the building into thin air – as other, unharnessed dancers run to the edge only to stop, and climbers repel downward from the building’s top floor.
And lastly, this review would not be complete without mention of one visual component in particular – the fantastic lighting design by Jason Amato. If you attend performances regularly, you’ve almost undoubtedly seen Amato’s work, as he’s Resident Lighting Designer for Zach Scott Theatre, the Vortex, Blue Lapis Light and others, but in this production he shines especially bright – managing to add depth and grace to industrial decay (all without the comforts of a theatre, we might add). This installation is itself worth the price of admission.
In total, this is a triumph of Jacques and Blue Lapis Light – thoughtful, thought-provoking work from an artist who’s learned how to get it right.
You've got only two more weekends to catch Requiem -- June 15-18 & 22-25 -- Thursdays through Sundays at 8:45pm at 4th and San Antonio. See the Blue Lapis Light website for tickets and more information.
Photo (c) Blue Lapis Light.
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