ORIGINAL PIECE MAKES A POWERFUL STATEMENT
By Laine M. Rutherford
The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.)
March 19, 2008 Wednesday
Andrey Kasparov, composer, professor and musician, gave a cheat
sheet of sorts to audience members at Monday’s world premiere of
"Tsitsernakabert," a collaboration with Creo, Old Dominion University’s
contemporary music ensemble; Second Wind Dance Company; and sculptor
Peter Eudenbach.
Speaking before the concert and during intermission, he explained the
motivation behind his raw, discordant and emotional composition – a
stone and steel monument, Tsitsernakabert, memorializing the Armenian
genocide in 1915. A photo of the monument on the program cover served
as a reference, too, making the audience’s job of interpreting the
dance that accompanied the composition less difficult.
Co-choreographed by Second Wind founder and director Beverly Cordova
Duane and company member Christina Yoshida, the piece took performers
and audience out of their modern dance comfort zone , transporting
them to a place of violence, despair and hopelessness.
The performance began with eight dancers standing in a large circle,
leaning toward the center at a 45-degree angle, mimicking the
monument’s design. Movement began slowly, with dancers breaking from
the circle, as if trying to escape their fate. In the end, though,
they always returned to the circular shape.
Kasparov’s 20-minute score built tension, discomfort and a pervading
sense of violence; Creo’s musicians and soloist Lisa Relaford Coston
competently brought musicality to sounds that most would not welcome
coming from their instruments.
An element of eerie calm served as a backdrop as Peter Eudenbach’s
video art played on a screen at the rear of the stage. His moving
images of nature – a weathered tree trunk, reflections in rippling
water – again played within the confines of a circular shape, giving
the performance an organic feel. If Kasparov hadn’t provided context,
Tsitsernakabert could have been interpreted as a comment on nature.
The dancers did a commendable job with difficult material. A few
times, the intensity bordered on youthful overacting, but as a whole
the piece was powerful and fulfilled Kasparov’s goal – to impart the
horror of genocide and the endurance of the Armenian people.
Modern minimalist master Steve Reich’s "Sextet," which had its American
premiere in 1985, was presented in the first portion.
Members of Buffalo Contemporary Dance showcased strong, linear
movements and a contemporary attitude . The music, accessible and
compelling as performed by Creo’s adept musicians, was, at times,
less an accompaniment and more a concert.
While much of the dancing was engaging, at times the dancers lacked
color – visually and emotionally – and seemed to be missing the
intensity clearly stated in Reich’s composition – and exuded by the
Second Wind dancers in "Tsitsernakabert."