The special blend of acrobatics, gymnastics, ballet, modern dance, and theater that is Diavolo | Architecture in Motion, is truly a one of a kind live performance experience. For audience members who love to be wowed with an event that is visually compelling, physically demanding, and aesthetically idealist, Diavolo is a sure bet.
The show began late due to technical difficulties, but was worth the wait as it opened with the signature work Trajectoire, directed and choreographed by Jacques Heim (with additional program credit to associate choreographer and rehearsal director Majella Loughran). First created in 1999 and revived and restaged for this performance, the piece is nothing short of spectacular. It demands an elite performance from each of the dancers that is literally breathtaking (as audience members gasped aloud) while being rooted in visual spectacle that evokes a visceral response.
Heim’s movement vocabulary is bold and strong, including martial arts rolls, gymnastic inversions, and high-impact contemporary floorwork. The blend of modern dance and acrobatic partnering is highly crafted and specifically coordinated with gravity and momentum making the dancers’ bodies feel more like apparatuses than humans at times. The work was performed by a cast of fifteen Olympian dancers Ana Brotons, Rebekah Bubnar, Kate Dougherty, Aaron Franco, Emily Grable, Simon Greenberg, Brandon Grimm, Steven Jasso, Liana Kulchin, Alexandra Lockhart, Derion Loman, Abe Meisel, Juan “Co-eL” Rodriguez, Andrii Strelkivskyi, and Matt Wagner. The dancers are beyond athletic in a realm akin to the Olympic games, but this time their event is manipulating gravity and momentum through interaction with a boat-like rocking structure designed by Daniel Wheeler and engineered by Mike McCluskey LTD., Tina Trefethen, and Wheeler.
The piece intentionally pushes the limits of the human form through time and space aiming to create a highly intense and emotionally moving piece of abstract art. A large portion of the drama in the piece comes from the sheer physics of the work. The piece begins simply with the structure stabilized for the dancers to introduce the nature of the large flat top, the railed edges, and the hollow inside. Then, as the choreography develops, so does the manipulation of the structure into riskier and crazier rocking configurations. Heim maintains the forward momentum of the work by gradually revealing the nature of the structure through the performers’ interactions with it. After the stable design of the structure is established in the opening scene, he ventures into simple shifts back and forth with the dancers leaning side to side and sliding simply across the lip of the structure. In this way, the audience members are able to learn about the physics of the structure as the work unfolds. Thus, the work has an emotional arc underpinned by the development of the physics within the work. Our mirror neurons learn the structure as we witness the ebb and flow of the movement in real time, and thus we come to feel the moments of suspension or acceleration into gravity within a swing or a rock of the structure. The work culminates with the dramatic highlight in which three petite women successively and fearlessly launch themselves off the highest edge of the structure to be caught by their fellow performers.
But, in addition to the physical components of the piece, the original music by Nathan Wong fuels the piece to be even more over-the-top dramatic. The use of triple meter in the music underscores the physical experience of the rocking structure with a cyclical sonic momentum. Wong’s music is dramatic and lush with cinematic scoring. It contributes both to the atmospheric component to the work but also serves as a huge coordinator for the piece as the structure rocks in time to the score. The tempo and timing of the music facilitates the precision timing of the dancers to meet the physics of the piece. The driving cycles of music further maintain the narrative intensity of the otherwise abstract work, adding to the progression of the work as well as providing an emotional context.
Additional design contributions by the creative team round out the sleek, modern sensibility of the work. The blue and aqua dominant lighting design (Jean-Yves Tessier) adds to the imagery of the structure being a boat caught in the turbulent waters of life. The clear cool lighting reflects nicely off the slim-fitting white costumes (Meegan Godfrey) and white wrestling-like shoes allowing the design of the bodies in space to be clearly seen and appreciated. Jim Vincent, Matt Wagner, Arianne Villareal, and Steven Jasso round out the creative and technical team for the project.
After a brief intermission the audience returned for another large ensemble piece which was a part of Diavolo’s Veteran’s Project, entitled S.O.S. Signs of Strength. The performance of this work was a culminating step in a rehabilitative program for US Veterans. Featuring a mixed cast of veteran and civilian performers, Signs of Strength was introduced by Heim as a work not of art but of therapeutic process. However, the resulting performance was highly curated and thus, very much felt like an art experience, which provides indicators on Heim’s artistic values and standards.
The cast of veterans had each written, curated, and recorded their personal stories of what it means to be a veteran and to be or have been providing military service. Set to the sound design of Simon Greenberg, featuring familiar compositions by Max Richter and new contributions by Jed Kurzel, Steve Jablonsky, and WWII Veteran poet Siegfried Sassoon, this work threads together the stories of the performers into a highly personal work driven by intimate narratives and punctuated by the Diavolo-flavored physical feats performed by both civilian and veterans.
The piece was perhaps most remarkable in the moments in which the eight veteran performers: Freddie Basnight, Veronica Burgess, Valentina Cahill, Chris Loverro, Daemion Marcuz, Ejay Menchavez, Tess Rutherford, and Anthony Simpson were so seamlessly integrated with the cast of professional dancers that one could barely detect a difference. It is in these moments that the value of form and discipline across the two communities provides the unifying glue between them. In retrospect the value of unity between them makes sense, too. The soldiers train in form and discipline to complete missions and save lives. The Diavolo company trains in form and discipline in order to perform incredible (and life-risking) feats as seen in Trajectoire. The value of rigor, discipline, and unity aligns with Diavolo as a company and Heim as an artistic director. The military styling of Heim’s jacket for the evening, the blade-like surfaces of the Diolovo logo, the high-risk acrobatics, the requisite team first approach within the company (like a company of soldiers), each is a reflection of Heim’s aesthetic values in his work.
The civilian dancers did an exquisite job in providing a canvas for the veterans to shine and be the stars. Sharing some of the same cast members from Trajectoire, the civilian cast comprised of Kate Dougherty, Caribay Franke, Emily Grable, Simon Greenberg, Steven Jasso, Micah Lagunas, Derion Loman, Abe Meisel, Gabby Pariseau, and Juan “Co-eL” Rodriguez. Again under the rehearsal direction of associate choreographer Majella Loughran, the cast was able to balance their elite capabilities with a sense of genuine humility. The civilian performers projected a clear sense of respect and deference to the veterans and performed with the clear aim to serve the veterans’ stories and facilitate their creative expression in performance. Often civilians were paired with veterans and vice versa continually shifting the configurations of partnerships and stage pictures so each performer (veteran and civilian alike) had a moment to shine.
Once again the work included sculptures and structures by Daniel Wheeler and his same fabrication team. The thick metal poles in S.O.S evoke the cold and unforgiving nature of war. The vertical poles were positioned first against the back wall like a barricade or barrier. They were then moved and manipulated to fit vertically into small holes on a square surface that performers rolled around the stage. The malleability of the design components allowed for bodies to be separated, joined, suspended and connected. Veterans were able to show off their own physical endurance by climbing and sliding down the vertical poles as well as weaving in and out of them. The larger structure with which the performers interacted was a slanted plane, with shorter metal poles sticking out of it, The effect being somewhat like a pinball machine, which the dancers were able to climb in, up and around, or slide down and between.
Jean-Yves Tessier’s lighting design remained generally dim and highly saturated for the duration of the work with deep blues, greens, and reds that suited the army green cargo pants and tan tops of the performers. The effect was a sense of the war zones these veterans faced around the globe as well as the inner war zone many of them are still fighting as they suffer PTSD and other challenges due to their time in service. The story was furthered by writer and dramaturg: France Nguyen Vincent, production manager: Ana Brotons, project coordinator: Arianne Villareal and technical dIrector: Steven Jasso.
Overall the show was a hit with the audience who appreciated the athleticism and the humanitarian aims of the work. In a brief Q & A there were many calls to action for more programs like this one to serve our veterans who continue to struggle in our communities sometimes visibly and sometimes invisibly. Donations were encouraged and gratefully accepted at the end of the program.
Diavolo does a remarkable service in bringing awareness to the needs of veterans in this work, but also does a service in highlighting the humanity in veterans by showcasing the capabilities of these individuals to be creative and expressive bodies in space. Of course, the high-end production value of the work with seamless projections, sound design, lighting, and technical support helps and is arguably a steep price for a rehabilitation program of eight. But, if the work is able to engender more giving to other programs that serve this community on a broader scale with a slightly lower price tag, all the better. As it is, I also imagine not all veterans would appreciate feeling “like they were back in the military” as described by a few of the former soldiers about the project and working with Heim. However, the ability of this type of work to spur people to consider the arts as therapeutic rehabilitation is something I hope will spread to meet the varying needs of the veterans will be funded in the future.
LA Dance Review 
Leave a Reply