Dance | Unravelling the Tight Weave

Unravelling the Tight Weave at VIVID4 | Winchester Street Theatre | until Sun, June 26, 2011

There’s something universal in between the visible strains of method and bits of madness in Unravelling the Tight Weave, choreographed by Kathleen Rea (REAson d’etre). From a cryptic, Norse backstory, she’s assembled a range of dancers with various ages, body types and skin tones who run, roll, collide into and boost one another (and the props) during series of movement that have evolved from contact improv. A mix of avant/jazz, Mediterranean-inflected strums of folk, pulsing Radiohead and serpentine Massive Attack feature different string-based textures & melodies. Sometimes the focus of the piece lies in the tension between individual dancers who engage in forceful & light-hearted play. Oftentimes, the ensemble weaves itself in & out of patterns while treating a giant, scarf-like piece as a guideline or lifeline or even discarded viscera. It’s when the rolling, larger-than-life balls of yarn seem to transform from mere props into cosmic orbs that the dancers become clusters of stars, each containing personal and collective trajectories.

The Wild in Us, another REAson d’etre production featuring dancers & grads of George Brown Dance, and an outdoor interactive knitting installation precedes Unravelling.

Tix here

Unravelling image | via REAson d’etre Dance