Choreographer: Nicole Olson
Performer: Nicole Olson
Billed as a solo, choreographed and performed by Nicole Olson, Desert Plains was actually a duet. The classic, wrap-around-rear-window Chevrolet pickup truck may not be in the credits, but it was more partner than prop and I want to acknowledge that here. Gene Kelly doesn’t get Singing In The Rain without partnering with a very lively, inventive umbrella and Nicole Olson doesn’t get Desert Plains without this very solid, voluptuous truck.
Olson started and ended the piece sitting in the cab behind the wheel in a very driverly pose, which is also where convention began and ended. In between those moments she was in, on, around, hanging from, on top of and beside every part of that truck – the cab, the hood, the fenders, the running board (yes, it had magnificent running boards) the bed and the tailgate, in positions you didn’t have to imagine because, well, there she was and there they were.
It was ironic and unfortunate that the very best surface for dancing (the bed of the pickup), also gave the very worst sightlines, obscuring the dancer’s feet and lower legs. It was a relief when Olson dismounted to the ground and, in full sight, performed an extended sequence with uninhibited and unobscured movement.
Her mount from the bed of the pickup to the roof of the cab was so effortless I couldn’t tell how it happened. Suddenly – she was just there, splayed across the roof and writhing her way sinuously down the windshield to the hood, transitioning to the bulbous fender (gotta love that classic design) and once again to the running board and back to the bed. It was a marvelous sequence which was less like dancing ON the vehicle and more like dancing WITH it, now embracing and melting into its designerly curves, now stabilized by its very practical planes.
In Desert Plains, Nicole Olson demonstrated the essence of site-specific work. She had obviously thoroughly explored this vehicle and, through her creative process, discovered unique responses to each element of its construction and design. We will never see this again unless we get this dancer and that truck in proximity to each other, which makes those of us in the audience the more fortunate for having been there.
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