TAKE Dance: The Distance of the Moon

Photo by Kokyat

Takehiro Ueyama knows how to put on a good show. His contemporary company Take Dance, in collaboration with Pulse, presented "The Distance of the Moon" last week at Judson Memorial Church to standing ovations. And rightfully so: the evening offered intriguing choreography, strong dancers, exceptional live original music, and cool lighting in a great performance space.

The program was broken into seven sections with varying moods choreographed by Take himself and Jill Echo, Kile Hotchkiss, and Julie Tice. Each was deliberate in establishing a theme throughout the movement - contemplation, intensity, friendship, humor...all paying ode to the versatility of this company within a set style and vocabulary.

Hotchkiss' "Penumbra" was the most forceful and memorable of the selections, especially with it's start: Light! Five dancers stood in line facing a single stream of brightness on the left. It was a jolted start from blackness that sparked curiosity. Slowly the dancers held onto each other, slithering up and down in the shadows of Jake Warren, the tall dancer at the front. As the lights came up they separated into intense duets and solos of swoopy movements. Jason Jeunette's fantastic lighting cast their shadows larger than life on the three walls.

Following this was Echo's excerpt "Evening Song" for five women. In a circle, they swung their arms and threw their heads back, rotating around like clockwork. Their huddle broke to reveal their more playful personalities. Elise Drew has a particularly compelling stage presence. Yumiko Sunami's twinkly music was the most enjoyable of the evening (though JC Sanford's music in "Long Night Moon" also stood out).

Photo by Kokyat

It's always fun to see humor in modern dance, and Take's "And Dance By the Light of the Moon" did that well. Two dancers in white start hunkering around the stage like cavemen, shifting their weight side to side as they walk with bent knees and stiff torsos. As they round the upstage corner another comes out to the audience's surprised giggle. They go on to dance powerfully with subtle touches - a confused facial expression, an awkward movement - that called for laughs. It would've been just enough had the part when a dancer strolled by crouched on a skateboard in a just black shorts and a strange silver mask been omitted.

That hokey-ness and the pseudo-acting in the bar scene of "Moonshine" could've been skipped. Like many ballet, contemporary, modern, and musical theater works seen over the years, this last piece set a table and chairs on one side and a makeshift bar at the center to create your typical bar dance scene: the flirty girls, the suave guys. The cliche story and "acting" was saved by a clever duet for Warren and Mariko Kurihara. About 2 feet different in height, their partnering was comical in the best sense. Kurihara was hilarious, standing barely to her partner's ribs.

Whatever the work, Take Dance always is a joy to watch. The dancers have wonderfully uninhibited movement and flow. And live music and creative lighting made "The Distance of the Moon" a great success.

Photo by Kokyat