Last night we attended the final performance for this season at Mt. Tremper Arts, which was choreographed by Kimberly Bartosik.

The evening consisted of two works which were works in progress and as well they were each the first part of separate two-part evening length pieces. So the fact that each piece seemed unresolved was not a surprise.

In the first piece The Materiality of Impermanence we could see Kimberly’s interest in drama, theatricality and writing as well as choreography as the atmosphere was mysterious and intriguing using dramatic lighting and spoken words which were part muffled but evocative of space and water, land, relationship and the passing of time.

Though one of my companions did not think the title meant anything, I felt Kimberly’s effort to elicit the passing of time, a journey, a struggle and the impermanence of life and relationships is implied in her title.

The dancing was very strong with the dancers doing a good job of describing space with their movements and running. Having the dancers run through the space describing a boundary was exciting to watch. Also describing space were neon lights on the floor giving the feeling of boundaries crossed and precipices encountered and crossed, including at one point the boundary of death. All the while the two dancers were helping each other and leaning on each other on this journey.

Kimberly’s movement vocabulary tends toward sharp, angular and steady movement which was actualized to its fullest in the second part of this piece with extraordinary skill by Joanna Kotze. Dressed in black, evocative of Death coming on the scene, Joanna’s repetitve strong movements and head gazes built emotions in the viewer up to a peak. On one hand the repetitive seriousness of her performance seemed funny but very quickly this feeling rose to an ominous feeling of doom. This performer and performance was the highlight of the evening.

The second piece, Ecsteriority, started out very strong with the dancers entwined with one another like flotsam on the beach and using the floor to make sound as they moved.- These dancers seemed to be together as a couple in a relationship of sorts leaning on one another and helping one another and then apart for some reason not explained. But though again the dancing was strong and the dancers excellent and exciting, the piece wandered from using the back wall and exterior wall of the studio as part of the dance to confronting and staring at audience members to removing clothing, all of which was a distraction from the strong dance movement and it did not hold up as a unified dance and ended abruptly- If Kimberly wanted to engage with limits and boundaries in this dance as she did earlier it was all too literal and the piece felt unfinished. Though the music was very interesting in this piece and pulled the listener into the dancing.

The art work on the walls seemed to compliment the dance we were seeing which was a nice surprise.