One of the most remarkable questions to arise out of the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange’s “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” has nothing to do with genes or the bioethical concerns that keep genetic research at the forefront of scientific discussion. Rather, the question is an imaginative and humorous point to ponder: What if scientists were choreographers?
The question, posed to an audience that included scientists, choreographers, and everyone in between, elicited a knee-jerk reaction of giggles. Footage of two scientists eagerly describing how they would express their work as art is at once charming and revealing. The video, projected behind the dancers, is looped at one part, repeating “head to foot, head to foot” – the phrasing of one scientist-cum-choreographer. While the dancers scramble to arrange bodies and limbs in concordance with the scientist’s taped artistic direction, it is hard not to feel as though that very moment on stage was a perfect synthesis of the two disciplines the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange spent so much time reconciling.
In fact, no less than three years were spent collaborating to create “Ferocious Beauty,” which was performed as a world premiere Feb. 3 and 4. Most recently, Lerman’s presence on campus was felt in classrooms in the science and dance department, lectures, and the Middletown Dances events of last fall. Though the promotion of Lerman’s work may have reached the point of over-saturation by its premiere date, the ubiquitous buzz worked in favor of the Exchange, who drew a full house for each performance in the CFA Theater.
The pre-performance talk on Feb. 3 provided insight into the mass effort behind “Ferocious Beauty” and the University’s role in it. The CFA’s “Breaking Ground” Dance Series has proved to consistently make good on its promise to bring the most forward-thinking dance forms. Lerman’s “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” would have been a precise match for the series even without the tremendous alliance with the University. The multidisciplinary approach to dance that the Dance Exchange’s staff and company looks outside the paradigm of tradition and approaches the avant-garde in subject matter and technique.
“We are very interested in what we can do with dance to explore ideas,” said John Borstel, director of humanities for the Dance Exchange.
Past Lerman projects have their roots in politics, history, even Reagonomics. “Ferocious Beauty: Genome,” following the pattern of ambitious, large-scale works, was fortified even more through the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship award Lerman received in 2002.
Lerman’s incorporation of contemporary issues and ideas begets expectations not common for most dance performances – provocation, education, and ultramodern twists on dance. These same expectations make it difficult for complete satisfaction with “Ferocious Beauty: Genome,” which extends so far into its goal of exploring the human genome through dance that it is sometimes difficult to connect each piece comprehensively. While each segment stands on its own artistically, some parts fail to complement the dance as a whole.
Ted Johnson, in a monastic costume, portrays Gregor Mendel exuberantly. Credited as the father of genetics, Mendel’s importance to “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” is accounted for in Johnson’s physical representation of the scientist’s thoughts. A large box-like structure covered in a gauzy fabric encloses Johnson for a time on stage. When he leaves it, he engages it in a dance that evokes the feeling of witnessing an internal dialogue in the scientist’s mind that gives birth to his discoveries in heredity. Described by Jane Hirshberg, partnerships director for the Dance Exchange, as “the spiritual thread” for “Ferocious Beauty”, the inclusion of Mendel as a sort of character throughout the dance is distracting at times.
“It was just so obvious,” said Rebecca Chavez ’08. “I liked the parts that were more representational or abstract, and this was a little too kitschy.”
Another “character” used to explain factual information is the flamboyant Miss TATA. Unlike Mendel, Miss TATA is completely fictional; her name is a play on a particular sequence of DNA. As Miss TATA, Elizabeth Johnson mischievously tantalizes the audience as a dominatrix of DNA and cell life. With a flourish of her whip, Miss TATA explains how she turns cells on, provoking the biological processes that determine how our bodies work. She excitedly explains the magic of cell activity, even embracing death.
“In this last minute, you’ve had seventy thousand tiny deaths!” she proclaimed.
While Miss TATA certainly stands out from the performance, there are too few moments as memorable in the rest of “Ferocious Beauty: Genome.” Part of this has to do perhaps with a general absence of commentary on controversial issues that are associated with genome research. Bioethics and biotechnology are hardly touched upon; instead, most of the scientific information presented throughout the performance is basic, with hints of morality in place of hard-hitting statements. In a story about a boy who kept Death from doing its job, we learn that immortality will eventually be a punishment for those who desire it. In another piece, a woman laments that the generic apples at the grocery store will never compare to those she knew as a child. Both lessons learned are valuable, but their shallowness prompts one to think of what may have been sacrificed for the sake of performance.
“Overall, I enjoyed the performance, but I came in thinking I would see something else, [something more] controversial or radical,” said Alexa Jay ’08. “Still, it didn’t detract from the show, it just made it a different experience.”
Examining the human genome under the lens of modern dance, Lerman manages to capture science in a form that will make the ideas more accessible. That the performance here was the world premiere of “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” makes the project’s future more promising – it can only be improved upon by Lerman and the Dance Exchange. How they might tinker with “Ferocious Beauty: Genome” as it tours the nation through 2006 is potentially as thrilling as it was to witness its development through Lerman’s residency on campus.