Company: Halo Movement Collective
Choreographers: Angel Castro, Katie Young, Jenna Lyn Endicott
Performers: Brianna Bishop, Anca Castillo, Angel Castro, Kayla Coxon, Krysta Flores, Tawny Hyster, Jaylene Lechner, Dr. Alexander Patrick, Victoria Roman, Mariah Shepherd, Kalli Sparish, Alexis Stephens, Katie Young
Halo – the Show
It was a beautiful evening in a spacious back yard, decorated and lit for a celebration. But if this was to be Halo Movement Collective’s final night, it was clear none of the company showed up just for the applause and their final bow. Nobody phoned it in. The dancers’ concentration was a tangible thing, their performance intense and, in critical moments, the evening air came alive with their rapid breath.
This intensity was demonstrated almost immediately as six dancers took the stage performing an abstract piece that involved whipping their long hair in circles with a precision that headbangers could only dream about. Whether their uniformly long tresses were to be seen as part of their costume or an extension of their bodies, the net effect was arresting when performed in unison with such energy. More to the point, it set a tone – don’t expect some casual frolic across the stage.
I have come to expect intensity as a given in a Halo production, but it can manifest itself in very different ways. This evening we saw a range from a mechanical set piece with the dancers seated on chairs snapping their limbs in quick emotionless, robotic, assembly line fashion to a banging industrial soundtrack – and on the other end of the emotional spectrum, a female dancer crawling onto the stage in a state of agony or abject despair accompanied by an eerie, breathy soundscape. She is followed quickly by two female dancers who proceed to manipulate her in the presence of some unseen, potentially evil force. Whether these are witches or the bewitched, a ghostly gong reinforces the trauma and the ultimate victimization of the original character.
This last was just one example of where Halo performers have worked against gender stereotypes. The women have not shirked from playing difficult, evil, even violent characters when their roles called for it, allowing Halo’s programs to reach serious dramatic depths. This was demonstrated again in a large ensemble piece, replete with sweeping martial gestures and mock violence, dancers being sequentially thrown to the floor and eliminated until only two remain in a touching duet where their heavy breathing accentuates their failed attempt to sustain each other as one finally succumbs, leaving a single person in a field of devastation.
The female solo performed by Katie Young was so integrated with the costume, that it was hard to judge them separately. The mask gave the performer mystery and the long tails accentuated her whole-body undulations and contrasted with her long, effortless leg extensions. It was beautiful to watch and a reminder of the importance that costumes have for Castro and how they are an essential part of character development in his choreography.
The male/female duet performed by Young and Alexander Patrick was remarkable for its elegance and intensity. Hardly a simple lover’s embrace, this was at times a contest of wills, emotionally charged, the lifts complex and fluid, two people working through something that required dramatic physical engagement and our full attention. There was something satisfying about seeing two performers appear so evenly matched in their body types and skill level, each demonstrating great extension and flexibility. Fully committed they gave it their all until they finally collapsed, exhausted, side by side, complete.
Halo – the Movie
A documentary film produced for the event opens with Angel Castro after a video editing session agonizing over the loss of ten years of dance footage. One of those suck-the-breath-out-of-you “I just deleted my novel” moments. Somehow, there is enough footage left or acquired to create a very credible telling of the Halo story, which started, amazingly enough, with Angel collaborating with his mother on costumes. He then entertained the audacious idea of starting a dance company with little experience but a collaborative spirit that drew people into this unlikely enterprise with him. Ultimately, through an impressive amount of mutual dedication, the expanding collaborations became a collective that held together for ten years. In that time, the Halo Movement Collective not only achieved creative success, including five full-length productions but forged deep personal bonds that members characterized in simple, powerful terms like “resiliency, unimaginable, formative, impact”. The documentary was a meaningful insight into the company’s history and a potential glimpse into the future should Castro pursue a path in photography and video.
Two Solos
I wanted to end this review with a commentary on Angel’s solo. It was significant that a solo at the Arizona Dance Festival several years ago was my first introduction to Angel Castro. He was a standout at that event and since ERA was potentially a final performance, what better way to bookend that experience than with an observation of his solo here. I watched a video of this solo posted on Facebook immediately after the event – a locked-down documentary shot that, for me, was like a shadow projected on the wall. You really had to be there.
This wasn’t, as so many dramatic solos are, some conceptual, angst-ridden artistic expression. You could feel the energy, emanating from Angel – some potent mix of anger and determination that propelled him across the space. In the process, Angel demonstrated what I’ve come to see as a signature move, and he went to it multiple times. Derived primarily through leg strength, he is able to do a back bend and lower himself to the stage while maintaining a perfectly horizontal torso, allowing him to seamlessly engage his floor work. It’s a deceptively simple move, very difficult and uniquely his.
It’s impossible to know what sense of finality this piece had for him, but he threw himself into it, covering the available space with dramatic contortions until, at the end I wasn’t sure if he was exhausted or simply finished. And while the work had a dark energy throughout, at its conclusion, I sensed a heaviness in his slow, deliberate exit from the stage that seemed more personal. That may just be something I projected onto Angel, but my distinct impression was that this ending of the collective, who were his extended family, was a visible weight that he carried tonight.
From my perspective, from that first solo I saw several years ago to this, his swan song, Angel Castro presented himself as the complete dance artist – the costume, the choreography, the performance – all his. Whatever outrageous assumptions and insecurities accompanied his formation of the Halo Movement Collective, thanks to the collaborations he embraced and the experiences he both survived and gained, tonight he was walking away with a legacy.
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