Momentum, which showed Thursday through Sunday of last week, was a showcase concert from the University of Michigan’s dance department. The program consisted of four works: Big Weather, Cheating, Lying, Stealing, Goodbye to Wayward Flesh, and City of Rain, choreographed by various members of the Department of Dance faculty and guest choreographer Camille A. Brown.
The first piece, Big Weather by choreographer Peter Sparling, was a commentary on climate change. It was urgent, compact, and intense, much like its soundtrack: Michael Gordon’s “Timber,” a heavily-layered percussion piece. Onstage, the dancers were in a constant state of emergency and scrambling to find their way out. The stage was busy with groups of dancers in different sections of the stage delivering expansive, synchronized movements, occasionally crossing through each other’s space with frantic energy. The choreography and accompanying video was geometric and entrancing.
The earthy color scheme of this piece contrasted starkly with the bright lights and grey suits of the next piece, Bill DeYoung’s Cheating, Lying, Stealing, which explored toxic office dynamics. The soundtrack was David Lang’s forceful, jolting composition of the same title. This choreography had more of a narrative, with cliques of dancers interacting with each other in derogatory gestures. Their movements were swooping and aggressive. I admired the consistent, fiery energy with which they portrayed the narrative.
The quirkiest piece on the program was Amy Chavasse’s Goodbye to Wayward Flesh. The stage was set up with a mannequin duct-taped to a wall, a bright red, winding staircase, and a life-sized llama watching a TV with static. The costumes (Jean Luc Deladurantaye) and soundtrack (Simon Alexander-Adams) both effectively reflected the choreography’s playfulness. For the majority of the piece, a large ensemble of dancers were onstage and interacting with each other with unpredictable, whimsical movements. The piece closed with a lone dancer (Paula Modafferi) jumping up and down, eventually realizing she had been abandoned by the rest of the dancers, and then climbing up the red staircase while removing her costume.
The show ended on a hopeful note with Camille A. Brown’s City of Rain. The work featured a blue color scheme, an evocative soundtrack by John Melville Pratt, and costumes with soft outlines. The dancers bloomed with the music, slowly emerging and increasing the scale of their movement. The choreography flowed seamlessly from a timid beginning to a triumphant finale.
The diversity of Momentum was remarkable; a wide variety of colors, music, and themes were represented, and the intricate choreography was performed with strong conviction by the students of the dance department.
