Barney Yates
CLYMOVE: QUIET REBELLION IN TECHNICOLOR An evening titled "Quiet Rebellion in Technicolor" was the sixth anniversary season of Clymove, the company of Clymene Aldinger. I attended Apr 10. I had written of this company twice before (see: https://nytheatre-wire.com/by23052t.htm and https://nytheatre-wire.com/by24041t.htm). Taking stage at New York Live Arts, it was a dance celebration of the power of women mentorship and featured three pieces from repertory and two premieres. One of the premieres was by Aldinger and one was by guest choreographer Ashley Kaylynn Green, a current member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. The gala honoree was Dr. Phyllis A. Penney, Ed. D., a dance educator and mentor whose impact on arts education in Florida resonates across generations of artists (including Aldinger, who hails from Jacksonville). I learned that "Martha Always Said" by Aldinger, a repertory work which began the evening, contains in its title an "artistic grandmother" story. The title is a reference to Aldinger's mentor, Elisa Monte, who had danced with Martha Graham. Monte would often introduce a critique or a suggestion with the preface, "Martha always said…" The idea is clever. The dance runs the gamut of emotions and relationships, with performers blustering each other, resisting, exchanging gestures, and kicking at each other. I surmise that this reflects the experience of mentorship and resistance to it. And that's how it fits the theme of the evening: commenting on mentorship by examining its processes. "Women's mentorship never did run smooth," the Bard might say. I was less able to interpret/place the other two repertory pieces into the theme of the night. "Rockaway Metamorphosis" by Aldinger opens with seaside sounds of the Rockaways -- water, a pile driver (for erecting piers), seagulls. This solo was danced by Aldinger herself; she rolls and strains on the floor, hands tied behind her back, and finally stands. "Hips" by Aldinger, a dance for the entire company of six dancers, was a fervent piece about courage and resiliency. Aldinger's "Quiet Rebellion," a world premiere, seemed to give us the inner life of rebellion. A whisper, a refusal to disappear, subtle defiance. A woman's prescription to other women on resisting totalitarianism and male domination while staying soft in a hardened world. "Continuum" by Ashley Kaylynn Green had a sound track with two cuts from Nina Simone ("I Love You, Porgy" and "See-Line Woman") and one by Nala Sinephro ("Continuum 3"). Green writes that the way Clymove dancers support each other makes her think of Nina Simone. The dance broke down into three pairs of two dancers, then trios, who engaged in a lot of complex lifting of each other, indicating how bonds between women form and are tested. The dancers of the Clymove company are JoVonna Parks, Bridget Cronin, Roxanne Young, Arianna Stendardo, Khaila Espinoza, Sophia Diehl, Samara Taylor and Josephine Brunner. |
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