BOB EISEN/JOANNE BARRETT AND FRIENDS
On Wednesdays in August, Bob Eisen has been hosting a series for experimental dance, theater, and music at Links Hall. Each evening, Eisen performs an improvisational duet with Joanne Barrett. On August 15, they were followed by the Sock Monkeys.
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Experiments at early stages can be as fragile as newborns. The Sock Monkeys are at that stage. The dancers–Lydia Charaf, Bryan Saner, Jeanette Welp, and Kay Wendt LaSota –have been working with transplanted New York choreographer Tim Buckley to bring a new strain of postmodern dance to Chicago. Abandoning the abstract, angular shapes of Merce Cunningham for weighted movement filled with momentum, Buckley uses swinging arms and legs to make dances with a loopy athleticism. Buckley’s movement has surprising detail and a loose, sweet texture enhanced by the Appalachian music he favors.
Eisen and Barrett’s duet was an improvisation, and the moments when she threw herself at Eisen to be caught had a sharp crackle of anxiety: would Eisen be able to catch her? Both dancers fell a few times; Eisen once let out a grunt of pain as he fell on his hip. Successful movements, like a perfectly timed catch and lift, were often utterly new. The physical dangers of this improvisation brought the audience to the edge, and gave the movement a hallucinatory beauty.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Joel Hauserman.
