Begin Anywhere – Project Arts Centre – Review

John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre Present BEGIN ANYWHERE
Dates: 11 – 15 March
Photos by Nir Arieli

This production includes several separate pieces. The first is called Four Solos and includes 4 separate works by American Choreographer Merce Cunningham: Changeling (1957), Solo(1975), 50 Looks (1979) and excerpted solo from RainForest (1968). The final and longest segment is called Begin Again and is a new work by John Scott. The production has travelled widely and was in New York, Limerick and Galway before arriving at the Project Arts Centre. It will travel to the Civic Theatre, Tallaght for its final performances later this month.

Merce Cunningham is an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He was born in Washington in 1919 and died in 2009. He was known for his collaborations with many avant-garde musicians including John Cage and Brian Eno, and graphic artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns. The piece entitled Four Solos included music by John King, which features many short bursts of synthesiser, feedback and other sampled sounds. The movement is often controlled and slow, with occasional bursts of frenetic motion. There is something quite confrontational about the work, with the performers gazing into the audience which can be unsettling!

The second part of this production is a new work entitled Begin Anywhere. It features music by Mel Mercier. There are four musicians live on stage, with guitar, percussion, violin and electronic sounds. The music was quite eclectic in nature, but the occasional burst of violin grounds the piece in something more traditional. The production has a myriad of different movements and segments as the performers move in isolation and occasionally fall into sequence. There are moments which are quite joyous, as the four dancers count to one hundred while falling to the ground or jumping in time. The contrast between the two works is unusual, with one being quite antagonistic and the other more playful. It’s another interesting and diverse work from John Scott and his team of dancers and musicians, exploring the varying emotions dance can convey.

CREATIVE TEAM:
Choreographer – John Scott (Begin Anywhere)
Composer – Mel Mercier (Begin Anywhere)
Choreographer – Merce Cuningham (Four Solos)
Composer – John King (Four Solos)
Choreography staged by:  Ashley Chen (Changeling), Cheryl Therrien (Solo, RainForest), Andrea Weber (Travelogue)
Curated and arranged by: Patricia Lent.
Lighting Design – Joe Levasseur
Sound – Donncha Moynihan
Costumes Gabriel Berry (Begin Anywhere)
Costumes Catherine Garnier (Four Solos)
Costume for Travelogue after the design of Robert Rauschenberg

DANCERS:
Solos: Morgan Amirah Burns, Boris Charrion and François Malbranque
Begin Anywhere cast: Vinicius Martins Araujo, Morgan Amirah Burns, Boris Charrion, Magdalena Hylak,  François Malbranque, and Adam O’Reilly