Kinetic fact, spanning time: Talents Dance Boston’s ‘Firebird 2’

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This idea of freedom and its lack co-existing: it struck me as a poignant theme in the program. White’s invoking of history, as well as the current work towards greater justice as a future goal, began another theme humming through the program: past, present, and future interlaced and interdependent.

Lights came up on Janie Howland’s memorable set design (built by Wooden Kiwi) of large red feathers, relaying and strengthening the connection to history; these feathers had small statements such as “if you get there before I do” – echoing a line from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. Then, through video, we entered a futuristic setting. Past, present, and future were interwoven.

In that future setting, with a news program (delivered by Dara Capley and Claire Lane) it seemed the strides we’ve made in more universal justice had been erased – patriarchy and capitalism ruling, unchecked and unabated. The firebird fell through this universe to encounter a trio of dancers (Amaal Ladha, Claire Lane and Madison Sweeney): moving from grounded stances but with flourishing gestures, floral and delicate, embodying femininity.

Yet, the approach – both with narrative turns and audio description – complicated traditional views of such “femininity.” The audio description, always included in Abilities’ programs, of course served its purpose towards accessibility. It alsooffered a poetic layer to the movement that anyone could savor – as well as affirmed a high level of moral imagination, that in which this organization is grounded and resonates through all they do.

Animation (by Will Machado, Aimee Ham and Hanah Cincotta) was also fresh, expressive, and smoothly blended with real video for a memorable visual effect. We saw Ellice Patterson, the Firebird, dancing with high intention and expressiveness. She was not rushed, thus embodying the belief that taking up space matters more than the pressure of “doing” in set time.

The video shifted to stage view, with musicians onstage and the “princex trio” having returned. They brought back movement signatures, the clear balletic grounding and soft flourishing gestures – building consistency and continuance of characterization (character development support from Johnny Blazes).

The trio executed crisp ballet technique, but also the juicy spinal release and softening breath of more contemporary styling. These qualities served the vocabulary of these varied influences well. Solos – one for each of the dancers in the trio – added layers of curvilinear pathways, new ways of expanding and moving through space, and subtle nuances of gaze and working joints.

These short sections were visually entrancing as well as carefully shaped to express the characters’ mental and emotional journeys – those of grappling with ideas of justice and freedom, in various domains. They came back together at the end, now a new trio because each individual had gone through their own journeys: of mind, body, and heart.

Following that was a duet with dancers (Simon Montalvo and Trinity Stevens) wearing black (costume design by Laura Brody) under black-and-white striated lighting (technical and lighting design by Matt Breton): certainly a shift of aesthetic. Beyond that, they brought something more challenging, harder to the heart – once again, both in movement and what the audio description added to it.

Their energy was more weighted, timing more staccato, and their gestures reached with more yearning. Yet there were also high leaps; there is hope so long as there is the courage and daring to rise. Indeed, honesty is celebrating the freedom that is while also not shying from the freedom that is not yet…yet. The connection towards the end, dancers moving around and towards each other, facing each other, also felt poignant; in each other might be that hope as well.

The narrative then brought us into a universe required to toil to power the other universes: clear from the audio description, but also movement vocabulary both staccato and heavy. These personas were tired but forced to keep moving, producing.

Just as with leaps in the past piece, moments of more easeful movement and greater expansiveness felt like mini-rebellions, like finding authenticity and freedom despite it all. Greater connection dancers – in timing and space – once again resonated as glimmers of hope.

Throughout, movement was beautifully unforced and unassuming – fluid and without extraneous effort or anything “showy” – which felt perfectly aligned with the beliefs from which it seemed the work came.

After intermission, the newscasters from the earlier video were at a desk. Inventive gestures such as spidery fingers conveyed the work of writing, typing, creating narratives. They rose to dance together: working as a pair, giving and taking weight. They created opposing shapes and those working in conjunction. Audio description contributed meaning as always – interrogating those who build and amplify the narratives: media figures.

The dancers’ silky strength and keen attunement to each other allowed these complexities to kinetically and energetically translate. Solos underscored the personal toll of being at the center of such competing pulls and priorities, those always at play in media operations. Once again, coming back together towards the end seemed to bring hope.

Yet they challenged the freedom-seeking Firebird – who shared her story from spotlight. The magic to which she kept referring came through her movement: grounded and fluid, yet also with the weight and pressure of uniqueness unseen, unpraised. Quick, yet aqueous gestures of clapping games and being read to by a beloved elder sprinkled in a more youthful innocence.

Calls to “Elder Firebird” echoed the past, present, and future theme woven throughout the program. Aerial work of climbing up silks portrayed the freedom of the Firebird’s flight, if only through the tenacious persistence and pure grace she brought to it. Foot by foot she rose higher, finding shapes from splits to backbending to sitting, resting, finally (aerial choreography coach: Mandy Hackman.

The audio discussed ancestors and “future Firebirds”: the past, present, and future still interwoven. Then, ending with Elder Firebird’s voice, the work concluded with knotting off the thread of the past supporting the enacious work of the present and future.

Thus, Firebird 2 had keen potential to have audience members deeply reflect – on how we can be part of liberation not reached in the past and still not yet in the present. Powerful embodiment, poetic audio description, and inspired design allowed these ideas to translate in a highly visceral, sensory way, and therein be all the more impactful.

Honesty – a first step to change – can begin with art, with embodiment. The work, and the dance, continues. Thank you for helping to lead the way, Abilities Dance Boston!

By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.

Abilities Dance Boston, aerial, aerial dance, Aimee Ham, Amaal Ladha, Claire Lane, dance review, dance reviews, Dara Capley, Ellice Patterson, Hanah Cincotta, Jamie Howland, Johnny Blazes, Laura Brody, Madison Sweeney, Mandy Hackman, Matt Breton, online dance review, online dance reviews, review, Reviews, Simon Montalvo, Trinity Stevens, Will Machado