LSP Environmental Studies Community Event Reports

On a rainy December evening in Midtown a trio of dancers began to perform “Forward” at the Chashama Theatre on 217 E 42nd Street. Inside the warm, dimly lit theatre was not the regular Times Square crowd nor the flashy Broadway scene, but rather an intimate gathering of New York’s modern dance enthusiasts. It was the sort of place you had to search for- and once you found the Chashama, you immediately became part of an underground dance movement. The chairs were arranged in an intimate circle with about twenty to thirty guests in attendance.
The show was put on by a non-profit arts presenter called “the TANK” founded in April 2003 by nine college graduates who wanted to bring the arts to the people at an affordable price. Their mission statement reads “The Tank seeks to cultivate a new generation of audience for life performances, civic discourse, and the work of emerging artists.”

But, wait, some of you might be wondering- isn’t this supposed to be an environmental community event report and not a review of a small performance? Well, “Forward” by Ana Keilson and Collaborators explored the topic of evolution. In true Darwin homage, Keilson explores the process of evolution from the animal kingdom to the emergence of humans. Her movement vocabulary simulated the movement of bugs, bipeds, and bodies in various stages of development. In an interview of Keilson afterwards, she conveyed that her goal was to show a simultaneous evolution of different species with a specific focus on Neanderthals. She wanted to portray this as a long-drawn out process to symbolize the billions of years over which evolution has taken place. The idea of “change” for Keilson was an important concept to base her movement off of. The natural change of physical forms in the evolution of animals was important to Keilson.

As the show began, three bodies writhed on the floor as the sounds of a distant rainforest began to permeate the space. The room was stuffy almost reminiscent of a wet and dark rainforest with light appearing intermittedley. As the lights turned on and off, appeared and reappeared, it made me wonder if we are still in the dark about evolution? If appearance of light hinted at a beginning of understanding of evolution- do we have further to go?
The dancers wore muted Earth tones ranging from mauve, faded yellow, and a dirt brown. At times the dancers would stop in unison and scan the audience- almost as if our participation was interactive. Our watching was intimate- we took place in this process of evolution. Could Keilson be hinting at an anthropogenic cause that has effected evolution? Maybe.
While watching the choreography among the three individuals it is easy to observe the process of natural selection. At first the three dancers are all mimicking each other: crawling, writhing, kicking, and isolating movements. Then one seems to develop wings while another doesn’t- and at the end of the two-minute sequence both have developed wings. This begs the question: what are the three things must a trait have in order to be chosen for natural selection? It has to be advantageous, inheritable, and there must be variable difference in population. The wings were clearly advantageous in this development. This wasn’t the only instance that natural selection was practiced for the dancers: the process was repeated for the development of the backbone or vertebrae, the tail of the fish, and the transition from quadruped to biped.
Although evolution is an organic process, the movements tended to stray away from any fluidity. It almost seemed as if the movement of these organisms were processed and calculated. The intermittent kicks were all to rehearsed and the movement vocabulary seemed to be lacking an diversity. It took away from the concept!
Overall, it was an interesting event that elicited discussion about the process of evolution- and how far different species have come. It was fascinating to understand the concept behind the movement. So much of evolution is misunderstood and misused, and I felt that evolution can be showed as a beautiful progression. I enjoyed attending this event and it is definitely an experience I will never forget.
For information on the tank visit: www.thetanknyc.org