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A Woman… RevealedBy Caro Thompson
The performance started as usual, in silence and darkness. Then a side light at floor level revealed a lump of cloth and a red hat. The sound system erupted with a heart-rending voice wailing, “Ai Yai!” and my heart sank. Not a journey into the dark emotional realm of humanity, I thought. I just wasn’t in the mood for that. But Mabel Dai Chee Chang gave us much more at the FlynnSpace in Burlington on Friday, March 17. Clever, spirited, ecstatic, amusing, and soulful, the Argentine dancer created an astonishing number of unique visual “characters” with the simple tools of a woven gray/brown cloth poncho, a red broad-brimmed hat, and her own body. The sound score included language…in Spanish…so I don’t pretend to know much about the content she was expressing, but my friend and I were delighted by her theatrical manipulation of costume and her language of movement. It was a language that did not include her entire face until well into the forty-minute presentation. The lump of cloth arose until we finally knew there was a human underneath by the sight of a skirt and a pair of bare feet and legs. Standing, Dai Chee Chang created an extremely tall, thin person by reaching her arms high overhead and balancing the hat on her hands. Elbows bent a bit, the poncho draped down as if off a pair of sloping shoulders. Hands appeared beneath the hat brim, fingertips touching each thumb and each hand touching the other at fingertips, to form the shape of eyeglasses. They suddenly opened wide, the gesture matching the timing of more screams and the abstract image was almost shocking in its effectiveness in portraying a person tortured by pain. How could I feel so much without seeing a recognizable face? One became fascinated as the performer adjusted the costume again and again. Who or what would appear next? Walking forward on her knees, the front edge of the poncho’s slit opening pulled up over her nose, eyes were revealed, open wide, a child’s wonder captured. A horribly bent, slow-moving person walked away, anonymous again. And then a loud whistle was heard, the light changed to the coming of a sunrise and I had to smile at a taller child created, as the performer placed her hands on her shoulders under the poncho, elbows out: the appearance of short arms clapping. The musician and sound score composer, Lucas Rousseaux, sat just offstage to the side of the audience, and laughed with Dai Chee Chang’s “child” by using an unlikely instrument – the kazoo. Ha! Ha! Ha! The choreography did not tell any story that I could follow; rather it wandered among a range of feelings. The title is Vientos Rojo (Red Winds). Program notes indicate that the solo work is drawn from the life of Atahualpa Yupanqui, an Argentine poet, musician, and activist and include several quotes from his work, such as “I am angry at the silence for all that I have lost, let no one remain silent who wishes to live in happiness.” In this piece a woman danced the life of a man, was sometimes anonymous, yet also revealed herself: eyes, hands, bare legs. Dai Chee Chang says her role is “representing all Latin American women.” The final image was sober. Holding the poncho vertically, a simple square of cloth with a mane of long hair hanging down from the center, Dai Chee Chang slowly pulled her head and hair back thru the opening until all we saw was the fabric and a black hole. The music slowly decayed away on one single note to find silence. It was a simple visual metaphor for humanity’s universal, unavoidable end of being. But there’s a post-script. As soon as the lights came up for bows, a young girl child raced to Dai Chee Chang and jumped into her arms. Mother and daughter laughed as the little one clung tightly; the audience smiled and the invisible wall that separates audience from performer was breached. The child formed a bridge between us. If Dai Chee Chang danced of what was and is, then her daughter’s exuberant leap leaves me with an image of hope for our future: joyful, unrestrained connection. Caro Thompson is an independent documentary filmmaker and television producer who studied with the Garth Fagan Dance Company and the Jose Limon Dance Company when she was much younger
A printer friendly version of this article is available. Vermont Woman is a forum for news, issues, features, arts and entertainment from the perspective, experience, and voices of Vermont women. Vermont Woman is a monthly newspaper published in South Burlington, Vermont and is excerpted here on this site. All content ©Copyright 2006, Vermont Woman Publishing |
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