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REVIEWS |
AMHERST - Stylistically driven by the exchange between ordered choreography and less ordered improvisations, the tiniest moments of the choreography of Chaos Theory's Billbob Brown, however, spun out of the tension between interrupted, angular and endless, undulating gestures. Yet, rather than being hung up by the weight of the science and mystery associated with chaos theory, the bodies of the dancers hung loose. "Turbulence Suite" and "The Butterfly Effect," for example - the first and final works of the concert - displayed the energy of Paul Taylor's "Syzygy" but with the relaxed fit delivery found in the works of Mark Morris.
Shunning complete independence or iron determinism, the music, including works by the B-52's, Blue Man Group, Haydn, Cirque du Soleil, and others, wafted in and out of the spaces of the dance works. In contrast, however, the UMass Percussion Ensemble, divided into four polyphonic sets, dominated the corners of the stage and the piece choreographed by Brown titled "Bosnia." Surrounded by the relentless, but ever changing time signatures of "Bolero," composed by Richard Trythall, the four martially costumed dancers neither identified nor represented any particular combatant. Like the poetry of Wilfred Owen, the movement looks at the pity of war and rhetorically asks, "After the drums of Time have rolled and ceased, 'Shall life renew these bodies?'" The poetry of Chaos Theory, Ellen Kaz, however, looked at that moment when the drums of Time began their roll. In a succinct and subtle rehearsal of feminist myths, poems titled "Eve's Dawning," "Fallen," and "Creating Eve" read by Kaz, contributed the spoken word to this multi-media concert. As if to say custom creates "nature," in "Fallen," the electronically altered voice of Kaz combined with the heavily weighted movement created and danced by Jodi Falk to suggest that Eve's transgression was rather an imposition. Characteristic of Chaos Theory, their Turbulence concert mixed content with abstraction in thoughtful and refreshing ways. Stephen E. Arnold
FROM THE DRAMABEAT REVIEW, OCTOBER 20, 2000:
SCOTTSDALE - .... Billbob and [Lisa] Chow partnered in technique to become the magnetic and moving focal point in a seeming chaotic field backed by the Desert Dance Theatre ensemble Lorena Contreras, Linda Cuchma, Jennifer Duxbury, D.Daniel Hollingshead, Candy Jimenez, Danielle McNeal Johnson and Kristen Workman in "Strange Attractors." The Chaos Theory is a branch of math and mechanics that tries to explain how apparently random behavior can occur in a system governed by deterministic laws.
Brown and his gifted partner, Smith College dance-fellow Sarah Seely, performed a brilliant-in-technique "The C Word," combining Chaplinesque comedy with colorful characters to hold the audience spellbound. Magnifying his comedic gifts Billbob worked the audience in front of the curtain, utilizing coy peek-a-boo fingers and feet below its hem to produce snorts and guffaws in "The Old One Two."
The final section in Part I, "The Butterfly Effect," choreographed by Brown, with welcome uniform costumes by Liz Ihlenfeld and Lisa Chow (I’m reminded of Martha Graham’s limited budgets and the need for company members to sew their own costumes) asks whether a butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause a hurricane in the Caribbean. It better combined vivid rear screen images with a costume-unifying ensemble of dancers. The same unity was evident in Billbob’s solo "It’s Only a Wallet." Mary Daisy
FROM THE DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE, DECEMBER 5, 2000:
AMHERST - ...Brown's other piece was entirely sober. With the four drummers of the UMass Percussion Ensemble onstage to perform a condensed version of Richard Trythall's "Bolero," Brown addressed the strife in Bosnia in a committed, yet understated vein. Four women in camouflaged pants performed mostly abstract movement whose deliberate pace and pattern of entrances and exits hinted at the sad events memorialized in the dance... Karen Nelson
EXCERPTS FROM OTHER REVIEWS:
ALBUQUERQUE - "I Don't Think So," choreographed by Billbob Brown and danced with him by Sarah Reinhardt, was a strong, gutsy movement conversation between a young man and woman. There was a sense of both struggle and sensuous joy as the dancers twisted, interlocked, and glided with each other. Brown has a gift for clear, yet intricate design, using bodies to reveal emotional connection as well as aesthetic line. Jennifer Noyer Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE - The most outstanding dance event of the evening was Brown's duet "Sirius B" with [Candace] Earnest. Brown designed spiral lifts, falls, and looping floor patterns to suggest the interstellar forces of the Galaxy. Jennifer Noyer Albuquerque Journal
PHOENIX - ...spirit, courage, and a surfeit of ideas and one heck of a sense of humor...Billbob liberally laces his choreography with punchlines. You laugh as much as you ooh and ahh." Kyle Lawson Phoenix Gazette
SANTA FE - Brown's performance was comical and captivating as he portrayed a man possessed by his television. Santa Fe Reporter