The large audience, many of them young, entereddirectly to the basement. We were divided into six groups and led to six areasseparated by white curtains. Each group viewed a scene and then went to anotherarea, until all had seen six dances. Each dance made surprising use of agymnastic apparatus, including a vast climbing wall, a trampoline and a stackof mats draped in vines like a tomb or monument.
Bird imagery, twinned dancers (duality), an apple aday, and the striving for physical and intellectual mastery echoed throughscenes filled with flight, falling and verbal messages such as “Understand thatyou’re not alone.” The sounds of the dancers and equipment, spoken text,laughter, birds, a music box, and the audience’s applause also reverberated,creating mysteries and links. The curtains fell, widening everyone’s view, asfour dancers in harnesses and ropes flew in stunning partnership before slowlyreturning to this mortal coil.
In the darkly romantic second act in the upstairsballroom, Milwaukee’sidealistic German ancestors were further contemporized. With a perfect score,lighting and ballroom clothing, the vital dancers seemed fragile, peering intodarkness and covering one another’s eyes. Backs were turned, bodies faded intomemory, leaving high-heeled shoes across the polished dance floor. Wild SpaceArtistic Director Deb Loewen clearly loves her charismatic performers, and eachwas splendid.
