A Tiger Princess Dance Projects Presentation for DanceWorks
At the Enwave Theatre
April 28-30, 2011-04-30

            Yvonne Ng and Robert Glumbek are a remarkable duo of dancers who validate the view that it is possible to create a concord of movement from an apparent discordance of physiques. And they continue to thrive on their contrasts in this mixed repertoire of three new pieces and an older piece that has been re-envisaged since its debut in 2004.

A Tale Begun is the re-visited, renewed duet, where they are first joined by their backs through a leather harness that allows her to reverse or change positions and levels as dynamically as she changes tone. There are suggestions of her being a child connected by a cord to a father, and these suggestions are borne out by her childlike exultation when she sails through the air on his back or as she climbs down his side and then breaks free of the harness, skipping, hopping, rolling around in an ecstasy of liberation. Sometimes she is a doll or puppet, someone waiting to see through his eyes, as when she peeks through his fingers held in front of his face. Like a parent, he comforts her at the end, singing to her as she nestles against his chest. This piece is at once a struggle and a resolution, and the physical contrasts between tall, muscular, bald Glumbek and tiny, agile Ng with long flowing black hair, create a wonderful poignancy and intensity.

            Ng assumes a more manipulative role in Relatively Related, where she plays the part of a choreographer-director calling out lighting and sound cues, or movement suggestions with the authority of one who is used to calling the shots unchallenged. Glumbek is the obedient dancer who is subservient to her, but he has his own power as well—in his morphing plasticity that is kinetic, spastic, or frozen. He can create the illusion of melting or of being trapped in a dark box, but, finally, he rebels in a dramatic way. This is a game in a sense, as well as a mimicry of artistic creation that reveals the relationship between two forces, not always in harmony, but its light tone is refreshing without being nugatory.

            The third piece, Sticks, choreographed by Tedd Robinson, shows Ng`s skill at Butoh. In a long white robe and with nothing but branches as her décor and props, she executes a slow, serene dance that is all about poise, balance, and meditation, using her long black tresses to bind the sticks to her head or create an intriguing construction where she and the sticks become joined in a slow ritual. The rhythm changes in a sequence where she falls sideways, twitches, and then moves downstage. Marc Parent`s lighting and Charles Quevillon`s soundtrack are complementary artistic partners with Robinson and Ng.

            The program concludes with …Level On My Level, another new duet for Ng and Glumbek, choreographed by Kevin O`Day, that reprises much of the vocabulary—though not with a harness—from A Tale Begun. However, this piece stands completely on its own while exploiting the dynamic contrasts and harmonies of the two dancers. In a long light purple dress that billows out like a wide net when she chooses, Ng spins dervish-like while Glumbek uses his powerful swooping arms and twitches. When she stands on his shoulders while the wide fabric of her dress forms a tent, she is huge, thereby adding a comic note to the piece that has a continuous flow of movement and levels. Ordinarily, two dancers with such blatant differences of physique would have only an uneasy energy, but with Ng and Glumbek, this is not the case because each has a presence and reality that are integral to their performing selves and that meld together in an interdependence of considerable and startling beauty and force.  

pic 1: Yvonne Ng and Robert Glumbek in "A Tale Begun"

pic 2: Yvonne Ng and Robert Glumbek in "...Level on My Level"



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