Pennsylvania Dance Theatre essentially began their show in the lobby of the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater this past weekend. Dark red rose petals poured out of an open glass structure on the lobby floor where choreographer, Andre Koslowski, lay face down in a striking first image of the performance.
The structure was just one of several props used in the production of “por la blanda arena.” As audience members made their way into the theater, performer Sheila McKenna sat in a chair onstage surrounded by more rose petals, three large panels, styrofoam mannequin heads and a large perplexing jumble hanging from the ceiling (later to be used as a sort of pinata gone awry).
Low lighting cast a shadowy haze on McKenna’s face as she stood and exited the stage for the beginning of the show, establishing the dreamlike quality that ensued.
As the house became quiet, Koslowski and four other dancers began in frenetic moments of solos and duets to the quick pounding of a drum beat. Dancer, Jennifer Keller, pranced across the stage with a mannequin head stuffed into her top, demanding to know just “what” everyone felt was so wrong with it.
As is typical in Koslowski’s work, audience members laughed out loud at the absurd hilarity and total vulnerability in the choreography. Similar to reading a David Sedaris essay, we are either crying tears of joy or sadness throughout. Most often, both.
Prompted by a simple question - “What were the things you felt horrible about as a kid?” - the performers moved into chairs at the front of the stage expressing themselves with short phrases and one word answers like “short, fine hair, long nose, fat, mole, droopy eyes, etc.”
The performance continued with the same unrestrained emotional and psychological investigation. Dancers embraced each other and then slapped each other across the face, supported each other physically and then laughed mockingly.
The panels projected images of a boat lilting effortlessly through a canal or river, a waterfall streaming, and what appeared to be a bustling city street. Then at times the panels became translucent to allow a solo from behind to be seen.
When asked what the work meant to him, Koslowski explained that he is “shy” about giving it all away, but asked the more important question - what it meant to the audience.
In the way that an abstract painting evokes multiple meanings for different people, so does PDT choreography. Although near the end of the piece, a crescendo of the music resulted in a beautiful, sweeping phrase of unison movement, the even more engrossing moments came in a sip of wine, a pointed gesture, flailing arms, and a poignant meltdown by Koslowski complete with an ode to the stink bug.
Set designer, Susana Amundarain explained her take on the show as an exploration of the “spaces in between.” Like in an airport when we are neither at home or at our destination. Or, more philosophically, the space in between life and death. Performer Jil Stifel thought about the space in between “having it together and not,” certainly a relatable experience for all of us.
The show impressed the audience with this genuine, sometimes painful and sometimes hysterical, raw openness. It is the willingness to be exposed as a dancer and choreographer, not just in movement, but in feeling, that is most admirable about PDT.
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