CHOREOGRAPHY: BOB EISEN/JAN ERKERT
Chicago is rich in such dance, partly because for so many choreographers here money is limited and performance spaces small. That means small dances and small audiences; but it also opens up a wealth of opportunity. Bob Eisen and Jan Erkert showed off their mastery of the form on a double bill, including one collaboration, last weekend at MoMing.
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Eisen’s work often has a rough, unchoreographed look: he throws flourishes, finishing touches, out the window. Only the big muscles count, and that frees up the body’s smaller, peripheral parts–hands, heads and necks, even arms–to just go along for the ride. As a result his movement has a flung, careless quality; the impetus is more important than how the dancers appear to the audience. The beginning of his new dance, The Crotch to the World Phrase, features Eisen and Joanne Barrett running in big circles around the perimeter of the stage; their bodies carve the space, their thudding feet mark the time.
Sucsy is a great choice for this piece, because she has fine but elusive traits that benefit from the focus given them in a solo. When she scuttles across the floor facing us, her big, slow inhalation and widening eyes are dramatically charged, in part because her performance has generally been so quiet.
