Begin Anywhere

John Scott Dance's “Begin Anywhere” started in the middle. A dancer walked to the center of the Irish Arts Center's JL Greene Theatre holding a discman, placed it on the floor, and pressed play.

Performance

John Scott Dance: “Begin Anywhere”

Place

Irish Arts Center, New York, NY, February 12, 2025

Words

Cecilia Whalen

Magdalena Hylak, Vinícius Martins Araújo, Boris Charrion, and Morgan Amirah Burns in “Begin Anywhere” by John Scott. Photograph by Nir Ariele

“Begin Anywhere” is an ode to the work of Merce Cunningham and John Cage. Choreographically, it is influenced by Cunningham's ideas on chance, his technical use of the body in twists, tilts, and curves, and his unique pairings of dancers in interactions that seem to come out of nowhere. In Scott's piece, the dancers perform what looks like an intensive warm-up class or rehearsal: They run, leap, and fall to the floor, spontaneously weaving in and out of relationships.

“Begin Anywhere” is a collaboration between Scott and celebrated Irish traditional musician Mel Mercier, who performed with the Cunningham Dance Company in the 1980s in Cage's score for the piece “Roaratorio.” (In “Begin Anywhere,” Scott and Mercier turn particularly to “Roaratorio” for inspiration.)

Mercier said his original “Roaratorio” performance with the Cunningham Dance Company “turned my known musical world inside out.” Cage's avant-garde sounds and Cunningham's choreography left an indelible impact on the musician's life. In “Begin Anywhere,” Mercier pays homage to Cage's “Roaratorio” with a score made up of static sounds and voices which sometimes emanate out of the discman. Layered on top are improvised Irish jigs and ballads played live by Mercier and a trio of musicians.

François Malbranque in “Begin Anywhere” by John Scott. Photograph by Nir Arieli

As Mercier does with Cage's work, Scott plays off of Cunningham's creative philosophies, most notably his idea of “chance operations.” In chance operations, Cunningham would create set dance phrases but then leave up the order of the movement, the number of dancers involved, spatial patterns, and more, to chance (at first with a literal roll of a die). Cunningham said that the chance operations allowed him to extend the possibilities of his choreography in a way that was not limited to the human mind. It allowed for the creation of dances which, although generally set, emerged impetuous, excitingly irrational.

Scott's dance revels in spontaneity, too, both in timing and in movement. During much of the performance, the dancers count aloud in a variety of languages and at varying emotional intensities. After a while, the numbers begin to act as cues. The dancers, reacting to a certain number, rush to a new space to begin a new phrase, seemingly at random.

The execution of some of Scott's movements also rely on chance. One striking sequence involves two dancers who hold on to one another's arms and spin rapidly around in circles. During this turbulence, other dancers wait for an opening and then slip through the negative space underneath the spinning dancers' arms, a thrilling—if perilous—procedure.

Vinícius Martins Araújo in “Begin Anywhere” by John Scott. Photograph by Nir Arieli

Cunningham might be most celebrated for his choreographic ingenuities in regard to form, chance, and, with Cage, a newfound relationship to music, but his movement style equally distinguished himself as an artist. “Begin Anywhere” was preceded on the Irish Arts program by an arrangement of five Cunningham solos performed by members of Scott's group as well as Lindsey Jones, frequent performer of Cunningham work and celebrated dancer with Pam Tannowitz Dance. The arrangement included solos from Cunningham's “Changeling” (1957), “Solo” (1975), “Antic Meet” (1958), and “RainForest” (1968), all of which reminded the audience of Cunningham's brilliant movement language.

In “Changeling” and “Solo,” which were performed by François Malbranque and Boris Charrion, respectively, Cunningham's twisted, uncomfortable-looking, creature-like formal vocabulary is on full display. The dancers, wearing unitards traditional of the Cunningham company, squeeze themselves into tight, curved balls on the floor, jump in repetitive triangular positions, and perform excruciatingly slow adagio sections which move through deep pliés into asymmetrical balances. By formalizing extreme positions in the body—curves and arches, twists and tilts, diagonal positions of the arms and legs—Cunningham created a unique geometric yet otherworldly movement expression that is instantly recognizable.

In “Begin Anywhere,” Scott acknowledges Cunningham's technique but with a contemporary style that lacks a distinctive voice. The dancers' torsos curve forward and arch backward, but unlike Cunningham's held positions, Scott's are relaxed, like those of modern release techniques. Other movements draw influence from Gaga—with the dancers exploding into shakes—or from a combination of contemporary floorwork.

This is not to say that “Begin Anywhere” is not engaging: The dancers are powerful, athletic movers, and Scott's use of space could be hypnotizing. Making use of the horizontal breadth, the dancers continually circled around the space, marking disordered time with their erratic counting.

After moving round and round, all of a sudden, the cycle would break, and the dancers would rush to a scatter. They'd restart or start anew, and the piece, itself, would begin all over again.

Cecilia Whalen

Cecilia Whalen is a New York City-based dancer, choreographer, and writer. She is a graduate of the Martha Graham School and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In addition to her work with Fjord, her writing can be found in various publications, including Dance Magazine and Commonweal Magazine.

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