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"Halt!"
finds beauty in the mundane and the chaotic, at the Whitehall
Ferry Terminal. Photo by Megan Green. |
A crush of people in somber winter coats are pushing towards the sliding doors that are set to open and release them onto Staten Island Ferry so that they can escape Manhattan. There is a sense of expectation as the doors open and the crowd streams through to the ferry, while a scrolling electronic clock blinks the time above the doors in ominous red. And then as quickly as the doors have opened, they begin to glide shut. People run across the terminal to get to the departing ferry. At the last possible moment, a woman in blue jeans and a non-descript grey shirt runs at the closing doors but just misses. She puts her hands up against the glass and begins to arch backwards. "Halt!" has begun. There is something despairing about this figure, who has missed the boat, and it seems that "Halt!"'s choreographer, Czechoslovakia-born Pavel Zuštiak, has tapped into a whole ocean of longing just beyond the glass.
Wearing white earphones, with mp3 players scoring the performance,
viewers of "Halt!" can roam freely or watch from a sound
bar – with a listening choice of five different 30 minute
compositions by contemporary composers, with sound design by Zuštiak.
Of course, the audience are not only those who are in on this
free public performance but the unwitting public are also viewers
and players in this aching dance piece. Beginning with this solitary
woman at the glass doors, dancing to music that must only exist
inside her head, gradually the audience notices a seated couple
in similar bland jeans and grayish shirt combo, moving in a slightly
robotic fashion, leaning into each other. The three dancers are
soon involved in a trio of longing that moves simply around the
massive airy space of the ferry terminal – with dancers
disappearing into the crowd at moments. What is most fascinating
is not just the simplicity and deftness of the dancers (Gina Bashour,
Lindsey Dietz Marchant and Jeff Kent Jacobs) but the public who
pretend not to notice and then finally give in to the strangeness
of the silently moving bodies around them. “I was curious
to go out where ordinary people are and allow chance be part of
the experience," muses Pavel Zuštiak, "Since the
sound is not heard many people become part of the performance
without realizing it, which creates tension and juxtaposition.
I believe there is still a lot of beauty around us if we pause
and look around."
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| "Halt" at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal. Photo by Megan Green. |
And the beauty is everywhere - in the soaring terminal,
people sit and wait, idly stroking cell phones and i-pods, a pigeon
swoops overhead, sun glitters off the water and two women and
a man move across the space, their limbs entangled. In one stunning
moment, a female dancer looks from side to side, seemingly torn
between the other two dancers – as her head and body moves
faster and faster, her hair comes loose and is whipped across
her face in a frenzy. She is grinning and the moment is chaotic
and beautiful and silly. Afterwards as she disappears towards
the departing crush of the next ferry, a large tough guy in a
baseball sweater and cap joins in, rescuing her hair elastic from
the floor and following her across the room yelling, "Hey,
dancing lady, hey." It's these kinds of moments, where the
public blend into the performance that make "Halt!"
so compelling and each performance, so completely unique. By the
time the guy gets across the terminal, she has already disappeared
into the crowd.
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