Audience Review

By Mika Dashman

Last night I attended a performance by dancer/choreographer Jonah Bokaer and poet Anne Carson. I have seen plenty of mixed-media performance events over the years and I find they often suffer from a certain imbalance, where one aspect of what is going on on stage captures the attention much more than the other. This was not such an occasion. In two pieces “Falling” & “Stacks” the choreographer and the writer collaborated with a sculptor, Peter Cole.

STACKS at Mount Tremper Arts

The stage was filled with stacks of cardboard boxes which were stacked, re-stacked, knocked down and manipulated in a a wide variety of ways by the dancers. In Falling Ms. Carson wove memories of her father and stories from her father’s life with musings on the idea of falling while Mr. Bokaer executed slow and meditative movements around her. In Stacks, the themes in the writing were more far reaching–from Jezebel to garbage in Detroit–and spun around various concepts of stacks. Ms. Carson’s reading voice was monotone, and her themes repetitive enough that it didn’t overwhelm or distract from the movement on stage. The movement was precise yet playful and all four of the dancers were a joy to watch. The dancers worked together in a tight ensemble, that much more impressive when it was revealed in the post-show Q&A that they’d only had 2 prior rehearsals.

Mt. Tremper Arts (MTA) is a testament to the vision and commitment of it’s founders/creators, Matt & Aynsley. I met Aynsley in 1999 when we shared a small West Village apartment with an assortment of other dancer-types. Although we lived together for less than a year, we shared many late-night, talks over cups of tea in our tiny kitchen about the act of creating a life and sustaining a creative life and how to build community. I have watched Aynsley’s vision grow over the years and merge with Matt’s. This beautiful oasis at the base of Mt. Tremper seems to embody their energy and ambition as individuals and as a team. Aynsley has always believed that if you create a welcoming and nurturing space (something she’s exceptionally good at), the artists will come. This is clearly the case. But what I found especially touching was the words of praise and appreciation offered by the artists when they were given the opportunity to comment about their experience of working at MTA after the performance. For New York City artists in particular, this place is a real gift. Without exception, all of the performers had carved time out of their very hectic schedules to travel Upstate and work and play together in this idyllic studio/performance/gallery space. Hats off to Aynsley and Matt! Your dream-come-true is a blessing for the artists who come to create and perform and for all the arts-lovers in the area (and there are many).
-Mika Dashman
(Raised in Woodstock/Mt. Tremper, resides in Manhattan)