Animal Velocity: An American Fantasy

Animal Velocity: An American Fantasy

Choreographed by Carl Flink

Going into Black Label Movement, I came with this preconceived notion: the movement is going to seem athletic. Partly because of how the company is advertised and partly because the artistic director, Carl, was one of my composition/modern teachers at the University of Minnesota.

First three words in BLM’s mission Language:

“Work Hard- Challenging, physical movement theater requires hard work

Embrace Risk- Too much caution and control rarely leads to powerful art

Challenge Always- Make art that pushes personal and societal boundaries”

I continue to question the emphasis on and the definition of “physical”. It would seem, “physical” means sweat-inducing, difficult, or large. To me, it could mean moving my finger up and down and it is “physical” because it relates to the body.

Once I’d seen the show, defining the vocabulary Carl drew from, for me, was like asking if a zebra is white with black stripes or black with white stripes. There were moments where the movement was flat and box like, reminding me of cards from Alice and Wonderland. There were also back attitude turns with arms in fourth and cabriole jumps. I’m wondering if one is the base and the other is added or if both come together.

Here is my “mood board” for Animal Velocity: An American Fantasy:

From the top of the piece, here is what made me think of this mood board of vocabulary:

A door-frame of sorts, illuminated from within, was filled with two people, one manipulating the other center stage.

A team of dancers entered and meandered around stage to arrange themselves in a circle stage right. They began slowly walking along the edge of their circle and eventually fell into less pedestrian movement; Lunge switches, shifts from side to side, created the sense of huddle and preparation. Also adding to the “team” theme were the red jerseys worn by the dancers. All #1. The circle broke so that there was even space between dancers across the stage. I noticed arms flung up then the hands shlump by the shoulder, fingers relaxed. The dancers lined up and two at a time they started a series of moves: Frankenstein arms up, tendu front, punctuated hip thrust…. The section continued with a combination of identifiably balletic movement and more stylized, idiosyncratic movement.

I noticed influences of punk and those birds that do a sort of opposing magnets chest bump during mating (see mood board). Dancers did these tight pike jumps that were reminiscent of jumps in a mosh pit.

One of the last images I remember consisted of a repeated phrase, while one by one a dancer left the stage through the box where the piece began. Push, lean, scramble, slap, raise, body roll, shift… all moves done within the box, against a partner, and, at this point, against the air. One dancer counts loudly from 10 until she is the last one to exit.