Thru

Choreographer:  BOSS (Gina Jurek)

Performer:  BOSS

The ominous rumble of the soundtrack set the tone for this piece. We knew it was going to be dark and come on hard. Only later would we realize that it was also going to be unrelenting.

This piece was combative. An almost continuous battle with unnamed internal or external forces. There was a momentary shift, whether intentional or not, where the dancer approached the audience with a welcoming, almost seductive, gaze – but it was quickly gone and the struggle resumed.

Externally, we saw the hard, large gestures accompanied by some emotive contortions, particularly in her floor work. In brief glimpses, I thought I detected occasional gestural references to the martial arts and weaponry. Internally, there was a toll being taken as the performer was driven to mad utterances that sounded like glossomania. When she ripped her shirt off and held it in her mouth, I thought it was related to stifling her random cries, coughs and snatches of song – or maybe just an extension of the madness. Her transitions into and out of her floor work were very fluid and provided a variation in aspect, but the overall style and emotive content was only relieved at the very end as she become visibly more vulnerable and ultimately succumbed to the ordeal.

The piece was arresting and consistently demanding, but if her efforts were extreme and emotionally taxing for the audience, that was offset by being able to witness her impressive skill set which was on full display.

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