Company: Danielle McNeal Johnson / DMJ Dance Collective
Choreographer: Danielle McNeal Johnson
Performer: Derrick Patten
We know that the piece is going to be dark. If the title isn’t enough of a clue, you only have to wait for the soundtrack – a deep, throbbing ominous heartbeat wall of sound that accompanies the slow writhing of the soloist, Derrick Patten, on a raised platform or bed. The intensity increases until he can no longer lie there and takes, first to the edge of the bed, and then the floor.
Patten had an iconic movement/moment where he is on his knees in front of the bed and throws back his head – whether in supplication or despair, that is a preface to taking the stage and working through this emotional crisis. It is a moment he will return to with good effect.
The pace and intensity increase. He is in the grip of a torment that finds him on and off his feet until there is a break and we come to a second movement, more lyrical but which retains an intensity that is still evident in his graceful leaps and turns. We are witnessing a gradual act of surrender which culminates in a repetition of the moment where he is again on his knees in front of the bed, throwing his head back in what I now perceive as an act of acceptance. This gesture bookends the entire middle section and allows him to repair to the bed, spent but absolved of the misery that possessed him, his relative peace giving the audience a sense of completion.
This piece had a beginning, a middle and an end. I’m not being reductive, rather I’m pointing out that there were clear distinctions made that allowed for the creation of an arc in the storyline and gave Patten the opportunity to exhibit considerable range in its execution.
This was a singular work, obviously deeply felt by its author, choreographer McNeal Johnson, and communicated with great authenticity to this audience.
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