Beyond the Clouds

When the lights for “Opal Loop/Cloud Installation #72503” come up on four dancers silhouetted by refracted light of a billowing cloud of fog, the scene rivals halftime at the Superbowl. Yes, I’m positing Trisha Brown as the Beyoncé or Lady Gaga of postmodern dance, even though I suspect Brown herself would bristle at the idea. But when conjuring images from my favorite works from her repertory, the vision of Brown herself dancing amid the atmospheric vapor of “Opal Loop” rises to the top.

Performance

Trisha Brown Dance Company: Trisha Brown's “Opal Loop/Cloud Installation #72503” and “Son of Gone Fishin’” by Trisha Brown / “Time Again” by Lee Serle

Place

The Joyce Theater, New York, NY, April 29, 2025

Words

Karen Hildebrand

From left: Jennifer Payán, Patrick Needham, Spencer Weidie, and Ashley Merker in “Opal Loop/Cloud Installation #72503” by Trisha Brown. Photograph by Maria Baranova

In the eight years since the choreographer’s passing, the Trisha Brown Dance Company has focused on preserving and expanding her legacy. Not only did Brown have a voracious appetite for questioning and a tendency to subvert expectations, she prized collaborations with visual artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Donald Judd. For its Joyce season this year, TBDC spotlights this focus on visual elements with a new joint effort, “Time Again,” by Australian choreographer Lee Serle and visual designer Mateo Lopez, plus “Opal Loop” and “Son of Gone Fishin‘,” from Brown’s Unstable Molecular Structure Cycle series of the 1980s.

Serle, who worked one on one with Brown as a Rolex fellow in 2010-11, leans heavily on Brown’s movement style for “Time Again,” yet veers from her in the way his piece suggests a narrative. Billed as a study of the cycles of time, it casts the dancers as a community. The towering Burr Johnson draws attention. Watching him is like putting a magnifying glass up to whatever movement phrase he’s doing. Serle ratchets up this effect by dressing Johnson in a skirt and giving a feminine lilt to his gestures. Other characters in this community don’t ignite as memorably.

What gets the most attention in Serle’s “Time Again” is the set designed by Mateo Lopez. The artist uses what look like three-paneled room dividers to form a kind of temple onstage. First presented flat on the floor, the panels resemble patches of grass. Then they become walls, and eventually form a complete enclosure. Each divider has an arched doorway: set in the traditional orientation the doorway beckons one to enter; upside down, it presents a threshold to cross; leaning on its side, it becomes something else entirely.

Near the end of the work, the sound of birds makes me consider the stage activity as a flock settling in for the night. The mood is somber. The temple glows from within and we see a woman standing inside. We’re outsiders looking in.

Savannah Gaillard, Ashley Merker, and Spencer Weidie in “Time Again” by Lee Serle. Photograph by Maria Baranova

After intermission, the clarity and intention of Brown’s own work stands out in vivid comparison. In “Opal Loop,” Ashley Merker, Patrick Needham, Jennifer Payán, and Spencer Weidie perform a phrase that plays in a continuous loop. They have the option of entering the phrase at varying places, so we see them performing the same gestures and steps at different times. Sometimes they randomly strike a unison. All the while they shine the Brown vocabulary like crystal: the silky folding and unfolding of arms; changes in direction that happen as if the dancer suddenly changes her mind; a low kick toward the opposite leg that initiates a spiral through the torso and turns the body.

The visual art of “Opal Loop” is the vaporized cloud formation designed by Fujiko Nakaya, which becomes an independent member of the ensemble as it rises and floats among them. Performed in silence, we hear the sound of the high pressure valves that release water. Judith Shea’s costumes complement the idea of changes in light and visibility. Merker’s swishy blush toned tunic was worn by Eva Karczag of the original cast. Weidie wears Lisa Kraus’s form fitting nude unitard. These light colors contrast with the darker costume of Needham and Payán’s shiny satin, (dancing the original roles of Stephen Petronio and Brown, respectively).

The final portion is a duet for two couples. There is no physical partnering, the dancers simply fall into unison—two and two. One couple moves to centerstage, coming between and separating the other—one dancer downstage and another upstage—while maintaining the unison in their matching pairs. It all flows seamlessly—the patterns, the timing, the ease—with no touching beyond an occasional tap on the shoulder in passing, or a slight hip bump as if to say, yes, I see you.

Spencer Weidie and Cecily Campbell in Trisha Brown's “Son of Gone Fishin'.” Photograph by Maria Baranova

A helpful program note gives some good insight into Brown’s underlying movement structure for “Son of Gone Fishin.’” If you consider the cross-section of a tree trunk, the rings might be observed as A-B-C, center, C-B-A. While the dancers move too swiftly for me to pick out the A-B-C phrases, I take notice when all six come to stand still in a line, then begin to rewind the steps in the opposite direction. Arm extensions now scoop inward and kicks pull back, rather than out. Where there had been a sweeping momentum, the dancers are now drawn toward center as if water circling the drain. It’s a remarkable study in motion.

Judith Shea’s costumes have been reconsidered by Kyle Pearson in saturated blue and green as a nod to the panels of Donald Judd’s art that appeared in the original production. One quirky surprise: the piece opens with seven dancers, but soon Rochelle Jamila disappears. Only in the final moments does she re-enter to complete the C-B-A portion of her phrase, a great farewell for the evening.

Karen Hildebrand

Karen Hildebrand is former editorial director for Dance Magazine and served as editor in chief for Dance Teacher for a decade. An advocate for dance education, she was honored with the Dance Teacher Award in 2020. She follows in the tradition of dance writers who are also poets (Edwin Denby, Jack Anderson), with poetry published in many literary journals and in her book, Crossing Pleasure Avenue (Indolent Books). She holds an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Originally from Colorado, she lives in Brooklyn.

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