“Bardo” operates in a wholly different register, though Fenley’s choreography philosophy is legible in this solo, which she created for the artist Keith Haring’s funeral at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in 1990.
The work’s name refers to a concept in Tibetan Buddhism, the stage that comes after death and before rebirth. Choreographically, this is translated, in the simplest sense, to a crossing of the stage in diagonal. In this way, it reminded me of Lucinda Child’s “Geranium ‘64,” another measured journey of space.
The steps that Trusnovec takes to get from point A to point B are extraordinarily limited. His limbs transition from one pose to another slowly; I could imagine the overplayed directive to “move like you’re in molasses” being used here. But this isn’t quite an adagio. Instead, there are notes of the pedestrian made celestial.
At first, the score, “Mantra” by Somei Satoh, sounds to me like a chorus of cicadas or sifting grains of sand. As it progresses, voices cascade in, harmonizing in an outpouring of breath. It’s the kind of music you’d hear during savasana in a yoga class. Near the end of the work, synths amplify it to a more epic sensation.
All the while, Trusnovec paces himself. He finds himself, frequently, in a careful fourth position, from which he may rond de jambe one leg backward, keeping the top of his foot on the floor, or raise an arm up, parallel to the center of his chest, his back well engaged. Frequently, he presents a hand or a heel forward with great care. In relevé, he may rotate his torso in contrapposto or descend into grand plié.
The work builds in its continuation, rather than in an escalation of movement. The simplicity of Trusnovec’s graceful and calculated bends, reaches, and twists compounds to create, in its entirety, a complete journey to the other side.
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