Company: Step’s Junk Funk
Choreographer: Step Raptis
Performer: Step Raptis
A Step Raptis performance, included as part of a dance series, is like a puzzle piece that never fits but somehow always belongs. His affinity for found-object percussion finds its way into myriad improbable forms of performance art. Coupled with his irrepressible showmanship, he is always entertaining. And on this particular evening, his exploration of the percussive potential in a squeaky old office chair was no exception.
Apparently you can’t reduce Step’s universe so far or make or make it so improbable that he can’t take delight in exploring its sonic potential. A case in point, this antique office chair. With only a single microphone mounted on the stage, he amused himself and the audience by wheeling it slowly and deliberately in place, intentionally filling the theater with the irritating sound of its squeaky wheels. From there, he proceeded to mount the chair in every position imaginable and a few that were not – alternately sitting, leaning back, sitting oddly cross-legged, mounting the chair backwards, and yes, upside down.
It was amazing that the chair was so sonically responsive – it that’s even a thing. But with a little help from amplification through the microphone, a thump on the padded arms turned into a resounding boom, similarly, the chair back had its own substantial version – slightly more muted, and he found any number of different pitches resonating from the frame and even the undercarriage – which to the delight of the audience he explored while stretching full-length, upside down. OK, you had to be there.
This was easily the most playful solo performance I’ve seen Step Raptis do, replete with a lot of low-key clowning and creative posturing. Underneath it all, however, was the beat – a jazzy, variable, multi-toned object lesson in percussion and musicality – however surprising the source.
Viewed Re/Viewed
Recent Comments