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Ensemble of YYDC. Director
Yin Yue is fourth from left. |
Six dancers and a powerful dancer-choreographer. Simple costumes, lighting very well designed and a good soundtrack. On the stage of Peridance Salvatore Capezio Theater, YYDC (YY Dance Company), a New York City-based contemporary dance ensemble directed by Yin Yue, presented a triple bill to a crowded audience last Sunday, September, 24th. In the 90 minute program, they showed a very good illustration that in dance, if everything is in the right place "less is more."
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Yin Yue in "Within Reach" |
Winner of important dance prizes – including one by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2015 International Commissioning Project and other by Northwest Dance Project’s - Yin Yue founded her own company in 2012 and she is the heart of it. Not only as a choreographer, but even more as a dancer. Trained at the Shanghai Dance School with an MFA in dance from NYU's Tisch School of The Arts, she is small and delicate in person, but on the stage, a powerful dragon.
The audience witnessed her potency in "Within Reach" (2013), a solo extracted from a longer piece. With music by Murcof’s, wearing a grey t-shirt with holes and blue pants, she captures the audience in the first sequence. Yin moved her arms like a swan, combining strength and fluidity and filling the space using many dynamics and plans. She articulates her body in a very special way. After the four minute solo, you need to take a breath after you saw her. The piece took First Place in Choreography at the 2016 Professional Dance Competition in Shanghai. It is a dance that you need to see twice or more to get it completely and the experience will be always nice.
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Grace Whitworth and Kevin
Pajarillaga in "Vanishing Point" |
Her way of moving is so particular that she has created an innovative contemporary dance technique with it, called FoCo (Folk-Contemporary), and trains in use of her distinctive movements. The technique engages five elements - root/ground, wood/axis, water/surrounding, metal/resistance and fire/kinesphere - and three rhythmic stages - pulse, drop and flow - in the dancer’s approach to movement and performance.
In the world premiere of "Vanishing Point" (2017) it is possible to see this training. The small group – five dancers – are all on stage and the costuming is simple again. They do not need more than a blue skirt-pant, top and socks. Using music by Emptyset and Michel Banabila, Yin abstracts the concept of the vanishing point in perspective drawing by placing the two dimensional concept into a 3D space on stage Grace Whitworth, Lissa Smith and Kevin Pajarillaga are very well trained in FoCo. During the piece, you can see how they control their bodies and change instantly from soft to heavy gestures and vice-versa. The piece – a little long – opened the evening at Peridance.
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“Through the Fracture
of Light” |
At the conclusion of the performance we saw "Through the Fracture of Light" (2016), a full company work set to original music by Juliane Jones and Doug Beiden with Tibetan throat singing and Mongolian melodies. The piece brings Yin back to the stage and she appears two times separated from the group and, at the end within them. She was smart to create the final sequence, which balances the quality of the movements between her and the company.
In dance you just need to put all the things in the right places, what is not an easy task. After YYDC’s performance we know that want to see more of Yin, both as a dancer and choreographer.
Marcela Benvegnu is a journalist and dance researcher. She has Master's Degree in: Media and Global Communications by University of California (2017), Communication and Semiotics (2007), by Pontificia Universidade Catolica (PUC-SP) and Dance Studies by Universidade Federal da Bahia (2004). She was the Communications and Education Coordinator of São Paulo Dance Company (Brazil) from 2010 to 2017. Has been co-director of International Jazz Dance Congress in Brazil since 2009. Gives dance lectures, works as a juror in festivals and writes about dance in books and different communications platforms. marcelabenvegnu@gmail.com
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