April 22, 2006

DANCE REVIEW | STEFANIE BATTEN BLAND

Live at the Joyce SoHo, Finding New Dimensions in One's Inner Self

By CLAUDIA LA ROCCO

Stefanie Batten Bland describes "Beneath Our Feet, a Tale of a Comet," which opened Thursday at the Joyce SoHo, as "a trio for four people," a journey for "three souls meandering between earthbound tombs and  celestial clouds" who experience "self-discovery" and "converge into being."

These souls are first seen on their bellies, heads down and limbs up, as if caught in mid-skydive. As conjured by Ms. Bland's full-bodied, elastic phrases, the earth they contemplate is spacious and dreamy: romantic in the old sense of the word. Her choreographic touch is light and, thankfully, more playful than its verbal depiction would have you believe.

Born in New York, Ms. Bland lives in Paris. Her company, sbb thegroup, consists of a Parisian, Raphaël Kaney; an Italian, Davide Di Pretorio; and the captivating Tereza Bonnet Senkova, of the Czech Republic. Throughout they speak in their native languages, sometimes hectoring, sometimes softer, as they deliver loosely set personal statements.

The work is most evocative when personal and grounded in details, as when Ms. Bland hunches over to brush imaginary ? mortal? ? dust from her raised foot. After stripping out of short, hooded tunics and down to black skivvies (costumes by Momo De Bellance and Anna Senkova), all four dancers luxuriate for a moment in their young bodies, stroking one another's muscled backs before jumping up, suddenly self-conscious and shy. Availing themselves of diaphanous shifts, pants and shirts, hanging neatly from the ceiling like a display at nearby Prada, the four become earthly creatures again, pairing off for slow dances that breezily meld social and concert dance.

Accordingly, the varied sound score, by Jean-Philippe Barrios, Christophe Rodomisto and Ed Bland, Ms. Bland's father, incorporates laughing voices and what may be the clink of dishes. We should all be lucky enough to attend a dinner party like this.

Saturday May 7th 2005 

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DANCE REVIEW  JOYCE SOHO PRESENTS                        

(JOYCE SOHO THEATER) -Jennifer Dunning

‘This is the season for sampler programs that allow new and developing choreographers to show their work without presenting an entire evening. 

“Joyce Soho Presents”, a three-weekend series, showcases relatively new artists.  The gamble paid off for the most part on Thursday when the first program opened at the Joyce Soho theater...’ ‘A great deal happened for a long time in Stefanie Batten Bland’s work “A Part One Word or Two,” set to atmospheric music by DJ Smbo, Chopin and Cliff Martinez. 

Five dancers (Raphaël Kaney, Emilie Camacho Pouteau, Alessandro Frei, Davide Di Pretoro and Andrea Bescond) traveled through shadows and into and out of light, falling into handsome momentary stage patterns and intriguing juxtapositions of semaphoric gestures and tumultuous whole body dancing.  Ms. Bland has authority and knows how to move her performers...‘