A Leap In The Dark (1987)
Production
"A Leap in the Dark" is a dance piece that was presented presented by Otrabanda Company and produced at La MaMa in 1987. A detailed summary of the show, from the Christian Science Monitor, is included below:
"'A Leap in the Dark,' given in a tiny brick-walled space at La Mama, is a parable of our times. Mr. Buckley, the timid bumbler who may be trying to be a dancer, learns to live in the world by somehow fitting himself in with a bunch of highly individualistic other performers. Resilient and resourceful, they can tolerate him even though the dance they do together isn't the most harmonious finale a show ever had.
Buckley begins the piece with a song, very positive and inspirational, about helping the other person and doing the best you can. Dressed in a frightful baggy outfit involving two different red plaids, he clutches the microphone and looks depressed. When he finishes, another singer, Angel Dean, drapes herself against the wall and wails her song in a heavy country accent.
The dancers arrive one by one: small, feisty Rocky Bornstein and small but softer Nancy Alfaro; burly Frank Conversano, who wears a lumberjack shirt flapping open over a gray undershirt; and Thom Fogarty, who has long bleached-blond bangs, a ponytail, and a dangly earring, and wears a sort of smock over his trousers. They form a line, with Buckley off to the side, and a stentorian voice instructs them in a series of centering exercises. 'Your arms are a tree. Your feet are rooted in the ground. Your body is a cylinder.'
'A Leap in the Dark' proceeds in a series of dance, dance-class, and song episodes. The dancing is fast and flung-out, but dangerous because the space is so narrow. The dancers develop a lot of momentum, only to crash into the walls or trip over each other. Oddly, in spite of the almost violent force of their movement, their bodies can get soft and squishy on impact; they never seem to hurt themselves. Buckley hovers around them, trying at first just to keep out of their way and gradually to imitate what they're doing. In one duet sequence, they wrap themselves intricately around each other while falling. This alarms Buckley, who tries to untangle them and avoid being engulfed himself."
Additional objects related to this production include production photographs taken by Jerry Vezzuso [OBJ.1987.0400], a show file [OBJ.1987.0469], and additional promotional photographs [OBJ.1987.0470].
"Dancers whose imperfections are just about ... perfect," Marcia B. Siegel, June 9, 1987, Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0609/lbuck.html
"'A Leap in the Dark,' given in a tiny brick-walled space at La Mama, is a parable of our times. Mr. Buckley, the timid bumbler who may be trying to be a dancer, learns to live in the world by somehow fitting himself in with a bunch of highly individualistic other performers. Resilient and resourceful, they can tolerate him even though the dance they do together isn't the most harmonious finale a show ever had.
Buckley begins the piece with a song, very positive and inspirational, about helping the other person and doing the best you can. Dressed in a frightful baggy outfit involving two different red plaids, he clutches the microphone and looks depressed. When he finishes, another singer, Angel Dean, drapes herself against the wall and wails her song in a heavy country accent.
The dancers arrive one by one: small, feisty Rocky Bornstein and small but softer Nancy Alfaro; burly Frank Conversano, who wears a lumberjack shirt flapping open over a gray undershirt; and Thom Fogarty, who has long bleached-blond bangs, a ponytail, and a dangly earring, and wears a sort of smock over his trousers. They form a line, with Buckley off to the side, and a stentorian voice instructs them in a series of centering exercises. 'Your arms are a tree. Your feet are rooted in the ground. Your body is a cylinder.'
'A Leap in the Dark' proceeds in a series of dance, dance-class, and song episodes. The dancing is fast and flung-out, but dangerous because the space is so narrow. The dancers develop a lot of momentum, only to crash into the walls or trip over each other. Oddly, in spite of the almost violent force of their movement, their bodies can get soft and squishy on impact; they never seem to hurt themselves. Buckley hovers around them, trying at first just to keep out of their way and gradually to imitate what they're doing. In one duet sequence, they wrap themselves intricately around each other while falling. This alarms Buckley, who tries to untangle them and avoid being engulfed himself."
Additional objects related to this production include production photographs taken by Jerry Vezzuso [OBJ.1987.0400], a show file [OBJ.1987.0469], and additional promotional photographs [OBJ.1987.0470].
"Dancers whose imperfections are just about ... perfect," Marcia B. Siegel, June 9, 1987, Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0609/lbuck.html
May 1987
English
PROD.1987.0015
Tim Buckley (choreographer), Tim Buckley (performer), Otrabanda Company (producer), Rocky Bornstein (performer), Nancy Alfaro (performer), Frank Conversano (performer), Thom Fogarty (performer), "Blue" Gene Tyranny (music), Roger Babb (contributor), Rocky Bornstein (worked for), Roger Babb (lighting designer), John Fleming (tech)
Loading...