by Mark Morris
Mark Morris Dance Group for the Luminato Festival
At the Macmillan Theatre
 June 10-11, 2008

    When asked by a journalist in 1988 about his philosophy of dance, Mark Morris replied: “My philosophy of dance? I make it up. You watch it. End of philosophy.” A refreshing refusal to intellectualize dance, that should be copied by most contemporary choreographers who insist on boring audiences with perversely quirky, pretentious bits of composition that promise far more than they ever deliver in the way of enthralling entertainment. Morris has always enjoyed a reputation for relating every step and movement (whether it is a jump, landing, arm gesture, etc) to a musical beat. Although some of his sequences can be riffs on or idiosyncratic responses to music, none of them is what Joan Acocella calls a “smear of dancing.” His choreography expresses musical subtleties without becoming overwhelmingly abstract, and by selecting unusual music in live performance—Bela Bartok or The Bad Plus, for instance, as in this program—he expresses his dance imagination with stunning ingenuity.

   Bartok’s “String Quartet No.4” is the music for All Fours (2003) danced in street clothes, first against a deep red backdrop that turns to black periodically, and each of the five movements has its own express character, proceeding from dancers in attitudes of nervous imploration and jumpy energy to sections of humour or slow incertitude. Quartets, of course, rule the geometric patterning, but there are interesting duos as well, especially when the quartets break into two pairs of dancers. The most interesting and successful passage for me is the fourth (Allegretto pizzicato) where small steps (including toe taps) translate the music literally. However, the final section is a wonderful lesson in release as the quartets open out and fill the stage, using space thrillingly, and where the four dancers in white are set against the eight in black in a sort of rapprochement.

   Violet Cavern (2004) has a jazz score by The Bad Plus (Reid Anderson on bass, Ethan Iverson on piano, and David King on drums) and a most beautiful décor by Stephen Hendee that consists of overhanging rectangles of colour and abstract motifs set against a brilliant colour wash. The panels and backdrop all change in hue throughout the piece, going from violet to maroon to grey to green—as if dance itself were changing into a landscape that itself changes. The dancers are all in white, and some form the impression of a chariot with its charioteer, though I am not sure of the iconic meaning. There is much floor work with dancers pushing themselves backwards and then doing flips from the floor or where some groups are huddles that are markedly intimate and sensual. As the jazz score gets progressively complex, so do the choreographic riffs. Ambiguous, mysterious, and marvelous to watch, and philosophy be damned.

pic 1: All Fours (photo: Ken Freidman

pic 2: All Fours (photo: Stephanie Berger)

pic 3: Violet Cavern (photo: Susanna Millman)

pic 4: Violet Cavern (photo: Susanna Millman)


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