Barney Yates
Cynthia Berkshire at Tibet House US "VEIL: Two Sisters" On July 15, I discovered Tibet House US, located in Chelsea at 22 West 15th Street, when I attended "VEIL: Two Sisters," a new work by choreographer Cynthia Berkshire. The concept of the piece is that two sisters are lured into a link between the earthly and heavenly realms. It is inspired in part by the Celtic notion of "thin places," where heaven and earth meet; this meeting is considered a connection to oneself and to another. The performance incorporated live performers and projected video. At its end, there was an "ending walk of light" ritual said to quiet the mind, open the heart and heal the body. It was an impossibly hot night and the gallery theater had a couple of fans but no obvious air conditioning. The house was oversold and extra chairs were brought in. I was lucky enough to sit by a fan but felt little relief from it. The piece opened with a woman crawling onto the stage, dragging one leg, followed by others. There was a voice over I could not understand clearly that spoke of other dimensions of time. Soon there were five performers rolling on the floor, being uncovered as sleepers under a gauzy throw. The stage picture seemed to be captured on an overhead camera and projected on a starry wall, but a credit in the program informed me that at least some of the video imagery was actually captured at University Settlement in 2019. Subsequently, a group of three cast members reappeared in Andean hats and danced a little sidestep before a background that looked like tall grass. Other scenes offered line dancing references. The audioscape included Country-Western musical riffs, Tibetan gongs and subtle sounds of night birds and insects. The movement was economical and spare. The seeming randomness of the imagery and storytelling confounded me. Toward the end, two women performers entered skipping and placed pillows over the sleepers. At this point, all the performers wore tan bib overalls and diaphanous scarves. A projection showed us a skyscape. A performer placed a rectangular, diaper-sized white rectangle on stage and a man was selected out of the audience to stand with the performers onstage. Ensemble member Carla Torgrimson nicely arranged candles on the playing area. The dancers put marigold cards on the rectangle. Everyone attending having also been given a marigold card and pencil, we were invited to jot down our thoughts and add them. Most people did, in spite of the space being extremely dark, which did not make writing easy. I never did figure out who the aforementioned two sisters were. I wrote a note to myself that the piece was, if impenetrable (to me), then at least harmless. The live performers were Hector Canonge, Donna Costello, Victoria Murphy, Yumiko Niimi and Carla Torgrimson. Tibet House US is a membership organization committed to presenting preserving and promoting the Tibetan people and the distinctive, beautiful and uplifting culture they have created. There are useful publications in the lobby, including one with a wide-ranging directory of Tibetan resources. It's easily accessible by Subway (near the 6th Avenue/14th Street subway station) and well worth a visit. |
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