Company: MAC & Company
Choreographer: Micaela Church
Performers: Micaela Church, Brandon Farrer, Martha Patricia Hernandez
Damn, did I like this piece! And it wasn’t easy because I kept telling myself I wasn’t supposed to. It had one of those cheesy little story lines that you see in opera and ballet and, God help us, puppet shows, which I am waaaay too sophisticated to acknowledge – much less enjoy. And it was so obviously miscast. Brandon Farrer was too outsized to be the traditional romantic swain and poor Micaela Church got stuck being the other guy because, presumably, there wasn’t one. Or was she in drag? That would be more interesting but it wasn’t obvious and with female dancers getting thrown into male parts all the time, there was no way of knowing. At first glance it seemed a bit cobbled together and they were just going to make do. Oh, well.
But then, the music came up and they started to dance. It took ten seconds (maybe) for Martha Hernandez to convince me there was something here worth watching. The quality of her movement was so exceptional, and following it closely became so necessary, that there wasn’t time to concentrate on my reservations – which I was pretty sure were still valid – I just didn’t care. I’m going to ignore the story line being played out on stage (remember, that’s beneath me) but the storytelling is not. The dancers’ concentration and focus on each other was unbroken, their reactions, complex but still clear – including the obligatory fake patter and feigned emotions that ranged from joy to jealousy to coy.
This was a sophisticated little dance piece, its story staged like a ballet. That balletic sensibility was reinforced by Hernandez’ elegant gestures and effortless extension. She was a delight to watch, even if I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. Was this modern with more elegance? Ballet with some soul? In the end, it was just lovely, and her partners stepped in with some beautiful lifts, capable partnering and credible movement of their own.
A final consideration of this piece could go two ways. Lament: Where’s Baryshnikov and Nureyev when you need them? or Consider: How extraordinary was it for two dancers like Farrer and Church to play against type and still pull this off? I’m going with door number two. Hernandez was clearly the star of this show, but it doesn’t work unless she is ably partnered. Together they created a joyful, engaging little program that kept me captivated – cheese and all. I came out of this thinking that this was the “Little Company That Could” and they should take a well-deserved victory lap.
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