AfterTime uses multimedia to showcase Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers. A world premiere by company dancers/choreographers Christopher D’Ariano and Amanda Morgan, the video-game-like/informatics movement vibe is enhanced by Reed Nakayama’s moody lighting, playing with fog and smoke-like effects. Digital projections by Henry Wurtz provide a futuristic feel, as does the digital score of Thomas Nickell and Fiona Stocks-Lyons.
Dancers Leah Terada and Joh Morrill open the piece with an intimate tangling, just before a mass of people enter in sleek semi-unitards (and body parts exposed). We see projected: a clock, old film footage, diagrams, buildings.
Destiny Wimpye is fast and sharp. Yuki Takahashi, partnered by Noah Martzall, shows an accomplished range of movement. A trio, then duet, dance to staccato music, followed by more tangled duets. On display is skilled arabesque turns, long-limb stretches, and attractive port de bras. The dancers soar through the choreography, with varied groupings that alternate between exclusion and inclusion.
As Terada and Morrill dance, stark piano chords and etchy strings signal a world discord. The dancers tumble to the floor, just before a final ensemble contact-improv-like move. Morrill has his angst-filled moment, collapsing, while Terada offers more expansive fare, with sweeping gestures. AfterTime is a jarring piece, the lighting adding to the effect—as do the other production elements—to make an impressive piece.
Dani Rowe’s emotional The Window offers stunning performances from Melisa Guilliams (the voyeur), one of my Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch, and Elizabeth Murphy and Christopher D’Ariano (the impassioned couple “watched” by Guilliams). Murphy and D’Ariano’s duets are big, fluid, and loose; Guilliams’ dance is poignant and sensitive. She longs to have what they have—connection, zeal, intimacy. D’Ariano then vanishes from the stage. The two women dance their grief with generous extensions and arabesque promenades, en ménage and in place. With striking costumes by Emma Kingsbury, masterful lighting by Reed Nakayama, and evocative music by Shannon Rugani, this tale of love and loss is indeed unforgettable.
Featured image: PNB dancers Christopher D’Ariano and Elizabeth-Murphy in Rowes’ TheWindow. Photo by Angela Sterling