By Brian Gray
Will the Sheep Come to be Cleaned is an inquisitive study of movement and narrative.
Building off of previous movement themes from a Fringe Festival show, The Ballad of Emotional Incompetence, choreographer Dat Nguyen continues to add texture and layers. Will the Sheep has several movements, beginning with a brief cabaret, moving into a various improvisational and choreographed movements. This work also combines spoken work and semi-installation pieces combined with various complimentary lighting changes and a soundtrack that changes several times.
Will the Sheep is an exploration of artistic shifts of diametrically opposed concepts, such as sound and silence, movement and stillness, light and dark, audience and performer. As Nguyen emphasizes in the program notes “…I am fascinated with abrupt transitions.” Often the audience is caught off guard with the change in pace of the pieces, when movements range from sporadic and stiff to long and graceful. The shifts between the concepts add a depth and texture to the piece as a whole.
Nguyen is also not afraid of casually incorporating social commentary into his works. While the cabaret opens with vivid sexuality, it is paused briefly as the performers become contemplative of their actions. At another moment, a performer moves about the stage with the other performers while describing about how she fell in love with dance intermittently mouthing out the oration in silence. Another performer talks about death while seemingly leading an aerobic class. Another talks about keeping sheep clean to make the slaughter of them more efficient, proclaiming at the end something to the effect of “Sheep who consume art and culture before slaughter are much more delicious,” while gesturing toward the audience, all while four performers move enthusiastically in a pop-dance manner to the side and another moves precariously around the stage. But the social commentary is less overt than it is simply threads woven into a larger tapestry of movement that attempts to describe the complexity of life and existence.
My descriptions of specific movements may sound convoluted and lengthy, but that is because Nguyen ensures that there isn’t just one thing happening on the stage. Throughout the piece, there are several dances/movements/orations that occur simultaneously. At times this feels chaotic, but Nguyen’s choreography and the dancer’s improvisations tend to rein this chaos into unified movements, often breaking this unity and devolving once again into chaos. This type of abstraction is reminiscent of abstract expressionism in painting or Dadaism in poetry, but often incorporates elements of pop art and postmodernism.
Will The Sheep is mesmerizing in its complexity. The overall work is a collage of movement, sounds, and narrative. This is a dance experience that certainly transcends the usual expectations of most dance concerts. This production is fairly short, coming around 50 minutes. There is only one show left, so don’t miss your chance to see this production.
Will The Sheep Come to be Cleaned by MotionVivid, Choreographed by Dat Nguyen
November 29-30, 7:30 PM
Sugar Space Arts Warehouse, 132 South 800 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84104
Tickets: $10 presale, $15 at the door
MotionVivid Facebook Page
Will The Sheep Come to be Cleaned Facebook Event
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