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IMPRESSIONS: Dual Rivet’s "Subscript" Choreography by Chelsea Ainsworth, Jessica Smith and Cast at 92NY
By Kristen Hedberg/ IG @kristen.hedberg
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Published on December 2, 2024
Dual Rivet's "Subscript." Photo: Steven Pisano
Direction: Chelsea Ainsworth and Jessica Smith
Choreography: Chelsea Ainsworth, Jessica Smith, cast and additional collaborators
Dancers: Chelsea Ainsworth, Quaba Ernest, Jerimy Rivera, Jessica Smith
Additional creative collaborators: Briana Del Mundo, Matt Johnson, Maggie Joy, Isaac Lerner, Jen Payan
Sound Design: Marc Cardarelli and Jessica Smith
Lighting Design: Beaudau Banks and Louise Brownsberget
Set Design: Chelsea Ainsworth and Jessica Smith
Dual Rivet's compelling new evening-length work Subscript speaks to control and shifting power structures. It combines detailed and imaginative set designs with visceral dancing and compelling characterizations.
Subscript draws inspiration from Dual Rivet’s 2022 short film IN CAPSULE, resulting in vivid scenes which invite our heads to turn in all directions. We feel a pull from the get-go as we witness performer Quaba Ernest, his character demonstrating sinister dominance, pace on a ledge at the back of the house at the 92NY’s Buttenwieser Hall. Dressed in a white lab-coat, he alternates carrying clipboards and manila folders, lifting the documents over our heads with a slow, sustained scan.
We then turn our attention to the stage, where Chelsea Ainsworth, Jerimy Rivera and Jessica Smith sit on three chairs, fidgeting tensely as if in a doctor’s crowded waiting room. Rivera and Smith lean into each other, tumbling into a swift duet which leads them to lift both each other and the chairs. As they rearrange their seats, they sweep Ainsworth into their midst, continuing their vigorous frenzy.
With each plunge to the floor, fling of a limb, or carry of a comrade, the cast’s gifted command of movement sparkles. We feel the distinction between those in the waiting room and Ernest, who conceals the power, information, or diagnosis the three others seek.
Chelsea Ainsworth, Jessica Smith (in the air) and Jerimy Rivera. Photo: Steven Pisano
A slow, sustained duet between Rivera and Ernest ensues with tension building as Ernest guides and manipulates Rivera’s movements. Breaking out and resisting Ernest’s power, Rivera bolts away from the stage to snatch Ernest’s clipboard. We wonder what knowledge the documents contain as Ernest catches Rivera, carrying him away over his head.
During this struggle, the stage sets behind Rivera and Ernest rotate. Two monochromatic rooms — one in cornflower blue, one in yellow — are revealed, each is filled with household items: desks, tables, flowers, a phone, and picture frames hanging on the walls. The contrast between these sunny spaces and the menacing doctor’s office feels startling and curious.
Ainsworth and Smith, dressed in 1950s style dresses and high heels precisely matching the blue and yellow of their respective rooms, seem disconnected from each other, and the world outside. Even a thrilling solo in which Rivera flies through space and hurtles himself to the floor between their rooms doesn’t stir them.
But their nonchalance breaks down when Ainsworth removes a photo frame from her yellow wall, discovering a patch of white underneath. Noting this deviation, she continues to examine her wall, tearing off wallpaper and enveloping herself inside of it. We feel her sense of reality deteriorate as she does so. This stress intensifies as she enters Smith’s blue room to seize a vase of flowers from Smith’s grasp. A conflict escalates as the entire cast chases one another through the rooms ultimately resulting in Ernest, the once all-powerful, having the set's walls close in on him.
Walls move, scenes change, and perceptions of power shift as characters fight and unite in this gripping work filled with incredible physicality, creativity, and collaboration.
Chelsea Ainsworth, Quaba Ernest and Jessica Smith. Photo: Steven Pisano
