We’re in the midst of a brief, ad hoc performance symposium in some ways as a trio of postmodern giants come to town to exhibit work ranging from the brand new to pieces dating back several decades.
Twyla Tharp is creating a premiere, David Gordon will be here in less than two weeks with a 2004 work and Bill T. Jones, 59, and the youngster of the threesome, is offering a mini-retrospective of early work with his late partner, Arnie Zane, in “Body Against Body,” alternating programs on view through Saturday at the Dance Center of Columbia College.
When Jones and Zane unveiled the works, they did so in comparative obscurity. Now Jones’ credits include Broadway, the Ravinia Festival and a Kennedy Center honor. “Body” is a rare opportunity to look back. While at times anarchic and meandering, these works don’t disappoint. For all their side trips and quirks, and sometimes because of them, they startle with how much they still inform dance vocabulary, methodology and content.
Thursday’s program, to be repeated at 3 p.m. Saturday, opened with “Monkey Run Road,” in which two dancers roll out a large wooden box and dance, both together and separately, all over the box and all over the stage for a 40-minute marathon. Talli Jackson is statuesque and stately. Erick Montes is short and slightly devilish. Their brief constructs repeat, change and repeat again, from the elegiac (Jackson circles an invisible halo around Montes’ head) through the aggressive (Jackson juts his hand as if it were a javelin and Montes collapses) to the lofty (Montes dives from the box to land in Jackson’s arms.)
“Continuous Replay,” a 1977 solo later expanded to an ensemble, evolves into an unstoppable locomotive, Montes starting the rectangular parade alone and nude, gradually joined by some 15 others, also naked, repeating a complex symphony of gestures to form a cluster that becomes a juggernaut steamrolling along the front of the stage. The nudity is still arresting and touchingly human.
“Valley Cottage” is a wry, mournful study of two people in a long relationship, brightened with more formalism and technique, alternately sweet and mysterious. Powerful, boyish Jennifer Nugent, and silken Paul Matteson are marvelous in it.
For tickets: 312-369-8330 or colum.edu/dancecenter.
