Audience Reviews

AUDIENCE REVIEW: Have you seen "THAT SHOW"? A hub for movement-based performance art in NYC

Company:
THAT SHOW

Performance Date:
December 14, 2024

Freeform Review:

In its third iteration, THAT SHOW does it again, providing a platform for artistic expression that breaks down expectations around movement and performance. Curators and founders of THAT SHOW, Kayla White and Taylor Schmuelgen, put together a show that was captivating, visually compelling, and deeply metacognitive. The theme of the night seemed to be thinking about the intricacies of movement as a visual language and what it means to peer into the process of a work, rather than just focusing on its end performance. Dance and other movement-based performances are ever-evolving. While it feels a bit cliché to say, it's important to acknowledge that no performance can ever be replicated in its exact form, no matter how hard you try. This collection of works didn’t shy away from that fact; they looked spontaneity and chance in the face and embraced them wholeheartedly. These factors became chosen elements of the performance, as did audience engagement. 

Housed at Index Space, an intimate performance venue in New York City’s Chinatown, THAT SHOW thrives off of its close proximity to the audience. Viewers are seated on three sides of the stage, and the line between audience member and performer is often blurred. Rather than a proscenium format, audience members sit inches away from the performers as they scream, wrestle, or even bawk like a chicken. It’s their live reactions that fuel the performers even more, encouraging them to reach powerful climaxes and take us as viewers fully into the worlds they’ve created. One captivating way the audience was able to participate in the work was through the opening work, “poll dance,” by Go.Co. Choreographer Maggie Goldman invited the audience to shape the piece by having audience members scan a projected QR code to participate in polls on what qualities, dynamics, or facings the dancers should use throughout the piece. This piece had a whimsical essence but also was even more compelling due to its investigation of chance, probability, and audience impulse. 

White and Schmuelgen have found a curatorial niche in programming dance and movement works as performance art and exploring multimedia modalities of dance. The artists they feature upend the expectations many audience members bring to watch movement-based forms. At its core THAT SHOW is one of innovation. It encourages performers to take risks, play with juxtapositions and genre-bending concepts, and interrogate what “performance” really is. Performer Ashton Atteberry, for example, seemed to investigate the relationship of object and time through their solo “attaboy!” Their use of three stuffed bears and a tutu created imagery of childhood, of bedroom dances and life lived carefree. However, the piece thwarts our expectations as viewers as it reaches its pinnacle when Ashton begins screaming and ripping the head off the bears to reveal rainbow feathers inside. This moment brings the audience to a point of catharsis and self-reflection, themes THAT SHOW often showcases by making room for unbridled expression. 

Choreographers MILES and Amanda Stambrosky also engaged with contrast and audience perception by using comedy. Stambrosky’s “The Haunting of the Residency at the Lake,” took horror tropes and brought them to life through dance. Dance is a semi-usual medium to see comedy and horror combine, yet there is so much potential here. I’m excited to see how Stambrosky and their collaborators grow this piece in the future. MILES of Lollygag on the other hand invited us as viewers into his world of whimsy from vibrant makeup, to vocalizations, to direct engagement with the audience. While these two choreographers approached comedy in wildly different ways, they still both fit the vision that is THAT SHOW. This is because THAT SHOW has range; it gets excited about what’s on the cutting edge of performance and multidisciplinary art and then goes a step further by providing resources for more experimental art to happen. 

Schmuelgen and White are passionate about presenting work that thinks about itself in the greater context of things. The work they present is intentional, interrogative, and smart. One work that completely matched the essence of THAT SHOW was “WE HAVE TO DO THIS BEFORE WE CAN DO ANYTHING ELSE” by Mirage Auto Depot. The storytelling, thoughtfulness, expression, and intention of this piece and its performers were breathtaking. Raychel Ceciro played the theremin with their hands and feet, while Logan gabrielle Schulman controlled fixed media and manipulated live projection. Additionally, Justine Florence joined Ceciro in movement as the two of them wrestle and dance throughout the work. The rich apocalyptic scene created by this work felt like the true embodiment of THAT SHOW as a multidisciplinary feat and expression of avant garde art. 

All in all THAT SHOW is a paradigm shift for movement-based performance art in New York City and a hub for emerging artists. THAT SHOW creates a space for artists to experiment, express, and celebrate one another in community while also making the work accessible to the broader arts world. Though it is still nascent, THAT SHOW is proving to be a home for innovation and expression, one of curiosity and willingness that make it unique from all the rest.

Author:
Rush Johnston

Website:
www.rushjohnston.com

Photo Credit:
"attaboy!" created and performed by Ashton Atteberry. Photo by Owen Burnham