HQ Review: “STORYSCAPES” by Karlovsky and Company Dance

Storytelling is a human pastime. Around a table, a fire, or over the phone, we understand ourselves and our world through the stories that we tell. Stories make magic, allegory, monsters, and villains; the great ones are told over and over again. Stories have a point of view, a framework for understanding our world, which the details of the narrative reinforce. And it is in perhaps this way they have capacity to also become insidious tools of oppression or reframing. In Karlovsky & Company Dance’s evening-length work, STORYSCAPES, the program posed the questions: “What are the stories and attitudes shared that get passed down through the generations? What stories do we want to continue to embrace? What stories should we re-evaluate? What stories should simply end?” If the stories we tell ourselves create the landscapes we live in, then investigating those stories for veracity, usefulness, and value becomes paramount.

STORYSCAPES begins with one dancer on stage, his back to us, washed in yellow light and dressed in a vest and tie. The music, played live on side of stage by musicians Kalo Hoyle and Tory Starbuck, began as soft percussion then grew in complexity as the dancer moved in repeated gestures: miming the putting on and taking off of a hat, sitting in a chair, taking a drink. This gestural dance increased in speed and dynamic until he was lying on the ground motionless. Behind him a huge projection came to life, his own silhouette moving in front of a window, the same image repeated three times side by side. As the dancer rose from the stage floor the three images disappeared and gave way to an army of dancers marching across the screen with sudden changes of direction and speed. Giant shadows were cast on the white wall behind them; the shadows loomed over the dancers on the video, who loomed over the dancer on the stage. Layers being built: a story about stories, the shadow of a shadow. The army of dancers (ten in all) entered the stage, dressed in similar business casual blacks, whites, and reds, and began a series of pivoting steps, disjointed and mechanical. These tight, contained movements eventually expanded into full bodied unison, led by the audible breath cues of the dancers. The movement continued to grow and eventually broke unison to become a series of colliding tussles, with dancers pulling on each other's limbs and falling across the stage.

STORYSCAPES is rich with imagery, and moves fluidly between scenes so that it is nearly impossible to know where one ends and the other begins. In one of the more striking images of the evening, the dancers lay in a long curving line, their feet on the ground, knees bent, and heads just below the feet of the dancer behind them. Lifting their arms and legs they began carefully, methodically, passing three ladders down the line. Projected behind them was the same scene shot from above in a tight frame around one dancer at a time, creating the illusion of climbing the ladders. From there ensued one of the most memorable portions of the evening: a series of duets and trios with ladders as props. Climbing in and out, flipping over, and falling under the ladders, dancers moved in and out of them in imaginative and daring ways. The ladders, in turn, became contentious objects and sites of, often violent, conflict. Complicated dynamics of power struggle were on full display; sometimes nodding to gender dynamics, as when a male and female dancer struggled with control of a ladder, each stuck inside at the waist. At other times the socio economic notions of dog-eat-dog success in western culture were brought to mind: a violent expectation of stepping on the little guy to “climb the ladder,” so to speak.

Another stand out moment was around a dinner table. A video projection showed moments around the table; a birthday party, an argument, children doing homework, a family eating dinner. The dancers on stage began a playful game of musical chairs, with each losing player moving to the side and beginning to dance, over time more and more dancers joined the group until only a few stragglers were left at the table, having seemingly abandoned their game. The group of dancers growing and moving in unison was impactful and the quality of movement was full and exciting. This group of performers is well anchored in this dance style: moved by breath and weight; establishing strong straight lines of the arms and legs only to jettison themselves into curved falls, swings, and tumbles over the shoulder.

During the post performance Q+A an audience member described the evening as a “wonderful ride.” STORYSCAPES was over an hour long with no breaks and yet there was not a moment of a prolonged vacant stage, hard change, or clunky transition. The piece was seamless and swept the audience up in its momentum which never broke or slowed down. Each scene, or world, we entered was carefully built for us and then just as carefully dismantled and remade into someplace new. In fact, though the sections are neatly delineated on the program there was no obvious separation when viewing the piece. This is a credit to Artistic Director Dawn Karlovsky who constructed the transitions and interconnectedness of the sections beautifully, but also to the dancers whose unbroken commitment to and command of the story and its nuances led us smoothly through the work.

Created in close collaboration with each performer as well as by the weaving together of video, speech, music, and movement, STORYSCAPES examines the intersections of narrative and agency, power and play, and takes a critical look at antiquated, binary stories surrounding identity and acceptance. The work is not prescriptive, nor does it necessarily offer alternative versions of these narratives; instead, it makes visible the lived experiences of a community of artists, bringing their unique voices and perspectives to the fore.