Auditioning for Abiogenesis is more like an interview with a Fortune 500 company than a dance tryout. For a month applicants are put through a series of “theater games” involving props, mock scenarios, and assigned characters. How fast does their brain work? Do they know how to solve a problem? These are the questions that concern Angela Allyn, the company’s founder and director, who says she is “looking for good bluffers.”
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Sometimes they do this by being silly. At a recent fund-raiser for an elementary school in Kenilworth, the dancers were butterflies with flapping wings, 18-foot snakes, and giant monkeys who fought with inflatable gorillas. Allyn, her head full of fruit a la Carmen Miranda, was busy winking at the men.
But Abiogenesis does “meaningful” performances as well, in which they explore themes such as war, AIDS, and corporate America. One of Allyn’s goals is to teach people about what’s going on in the world around them. Another is to show them that dance is an inseparable part of life.
“Angela is more concerned with the mood than with arm placement,” said Tim Noworyta, an Abiogenesis dancer since September.
“If you left the dancers to themselves, they would improvise for days. They love to improvise,” said Allyn. In other words, they’re good bluffers.
