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IMPRESSIONS: Company Wayne McGregor at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park
By Catherine Tharin
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Published on October 17, 2024
Wayne McGregor's "Autobiography." Photo: Ravi Deepres
Autobiography (V100 + V101)
Company Wayne McGregor
Autobiography (V100 + V101)
Kaatsbaan Cultural Park
October 5 and 6, 2024
Concept, Direction and Choreography: Wayne McGregor
Dancers: Rebecca Bassett-Graham, Kevin Beyer, Salvatore De Simone, Chia-Yu Hsu, Hannah Joseph, Jasiah Marshall, Jayla O’Connell, Salomé Pressac, Mariano Zamora González
Music: Jlin
Costume Design: Aitor Throup
Dramaturgy: Uzma Hameed
Autobiography Algorithm: Nick Rothwell
Company Wayne McGregor from Britain took to the Mountain View stage at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, NY, umbrellaed by the splendid kitesurfer-like awning on sunny afternoons, October 5 and 6. Kaatsbaan (Dutch for ‘playing field’), set on 153 acres near the Hudson River, hosts ongoing arts events and residencies including the notable Annual Fall Festival. Programming McGregor’s Autobiography (V100 + V101) as the final event put the cherry on top of this smart and varied line-up. This is not to say, however, that McGregor’s dance was a success.
Autobiography (V100 + V101) which premiered in 2017, illustrates the award-winning McGregor’s DNA in movement. Known as an early explorer in the fields of dance, science, AI, and technology, McGregor, for this project, sequenced his 23 pairs of chromosomes to inspire 23 self-contained dance portraits, which he calls ‘volumes’. Each volume, numbered 1-23 and given titles such as World and Traces, represents something personal to McGregor. A computer algorithm, based on McGregor’s genetic code, reorders the volumes at every performance, thereby keeping the piece hyper-alive. This is a contemporary take on Merce Cunningham and John Cage’s Chance procedures developed in the 1950s. What is the actual connection between McGregor’s DNA and these 23 dances (volumes)? Not much, as far as I can tell. With a quadrillion sequencing possibilities, the algorithm is a prop.
Three volumes always stay in the same place: Avatar, an opening solo, the central trio Sleep, and for the company of nine, Choosing, the final volume. The company, as of early October, performed 101 versions (V101) of this dance. Blonde Rebecca Bassett-Graham is the only dancer who has performed in Autobiography from its inception. Her roles are noticeable for extreme backbends and a certain swagger. Most company members joined in 2023.
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The Mountain View stage relies on natural surroundings to provide theatricality. Without the supposedly jaw-dropping spectacle of sets and lights that usually frame the dancing, Autobiography (V100 + V101) is mostly flat. Accompanied by the electronic music of Jlin (a.k.a Jerrilynn Patton), a former steel worker and Chicago footwork composer, the sound “based on McGregor’s genome reading” (Company Wayne McGregor website) by turns assaults, burbles, chirps, and scratches. Occasionally it includes deciphered vocals: “You don’t want to hurt anyone. But I do, and I’m sorry.” Sound at Kaatsbaan, somewhat muted out-of-doors, remains a backdrop.
Autobiography (V100 + V101) opens with a bare-chested, barefooted man, Jasiah Marshall, who probes the stage space journeying with bent-leg leaps, flexedfoot kicks and deep, wide-legged runs. His rippling spine and attenuated limbs are creaturelike and slippery. Whipping his arms behind his head, he balances in high passés and extended legs as he strokes his hand up and down his arm. The company is known for a signature elasticity that explores an extreme use of the body. This dance, beautiful and promising, captivates. However, it precedes 70 tedious minutes of solos, pairings and group dances. Standing alone, and if developed, these dances could possibly mean something. Instead, they eventually become a blur to be endured. The ballet-trained dancers, though interchangeable cogs, are impressive and ultimately save the experience.
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The geneticist MD whom I consulted said that the choreographer uses questionable “science as his backdrop for fiction. He is a magician and gets people thinking.” Apparently so, since I spent hours researching DNA trying to understand the hype. In the end, no matter the choreographic prompt, the choreography must hold up viscerally to express something that reaches an audience member. Numbing, nearly continuous hyper-kinetic dancing is just not enough.
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