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REDCAT Brings More Good Dance to L.A.
Photo by Ryutaro Mishima
Photo by Ryutaro Mishima
As it continues to bring in artists with impact, REDCAT hosts a four performance run of multiple award-winning choreographer/company Tere O’Connor Dance this Thursday through Sunday. Presenting the West Coast premiere of Wrought Iron Fog, the five dancers move to an original score by longtime collaborator James Baker within a set designed by Walter Dundervill and O'Connor.
Known for his intricate compositional layering, the choreographer makes work that is usually very abstract, yet somehow reaches under the surface to grab the viewer. Promotional materials describe the new work as comprised of “unexpected shifts in rhythm and mood [that] build complex relationships” among the performers.” With occasional gestural references, O’Connor keeps the dance pure and clean as movement, yet communicates subliminally on other levels beyond or behind what’s visible.
Last seen in L.A. at the Skirball Center a few years back, the company members are exciting movers with a tremendous passion for executing their director’s designs. In that work, the audience moved their portable chairs around the performing space to change their perspectives and, at one point, the dancers were running between the seats and all around us. Very exciting to be so close to the action and not know where it was going or whether it would actually touch us in transit.
O’Connor has also made dances for other companies including the Lyon Opera Ballet and the White Oak Dance Project, and has earned citations from numerous award-giving agencies (Rockefeller, Guggenheim, Bessie, Creative Capital and many more). Though his work can sometimes appear unadorned and austere, the artist manages to find our guts under the skin.
As written in the NY Times, "Go see this piece while you can.…”
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