12 Minutes Max is the present to Seattle that retains on giving. It’s at all times a glimpse into what’s being developed proper now within the native efficiency scene and final weekend at Base was no exception. Curated this time by Christie Zhao and Naomi Blue, the present delivered eight distinct works wealthy with persona, goal, and large concepts.
Leah James Russell’s Succubus opens with a strained, choking gasp. Then the lights flip on and Russell virtually bounces in the direction of the viewers with a chipper “Ohmygod, hi!” So begins a monologue of deferential appeals to the viewers accompanied by laughing and an exaggerated girlish persona. Do you want my costume? I simply wish to please you. Was that an excessive amount of? Intermittent flashes of anger and aggression rise to the floor solely to be batted again down. Eventually Russell succumbs to these darker impulses, reworking into what can solely be described as a deadly dancing machine. Crouched and contorted, their creature-like acrobatics exhibit Russell’s liquid management and bodily prowess, all framed by horror film smiles and aggressive seductive energy. Once the dancing begins it’s merely exposition of the reworked character, leaving me to marvel if the preliminary eager-to-please persona had been an act all alongside, or if the character simply fully shed its former self. The dancing is spectacular and I feel if developed, the choreography may additionally convey complication and depth to this character to match the capricious beginning monologue.
on the misplaced and located by Eviana, Evan, Ev. Photo by Jim Coleman.
It’s an fascinating piece to start out with as a result of Succubus feels in dialogue with a number of different works all through the night, although every with distinct fashion and perspective. Iveliz Martel’s Buda Errante (Wandering Buda) additionally engages with over-the-top character to nice impact. In a belted, brocade coat (shoulder pads midway to the moon!), the Chilean actor parades earlier than the viewers, a bored rich housewife on a flight of fancy. She gobbles her cigarette in a single chunk, pours her wine with out wanting, flirts with the viewers, and has conversations along with her nervous housekeeper (additionally performed by Martel). The comedic timing is spot on and the non-linear narrative retains every second recent and stunning. Towards the top Martel ditches the brocade for a darkish cloak and humble demeanor, now a kids’s writer answering interview questions. I don’t have a cohesive takeaway besides that I hope that is getting developed right into a full-length work as a result of it appears like this piece has extra to say, and I may watch Martel’s unusual shapeshifting all night.
In Conversations on Bargaining, a pinned-to-the-ground Samantha Fabrikant appears to be like up in startled alertness as if to some shock from above. Backing up on tip toes as arms push away, swinging an invisible bat, every motion describes a world we can’t see, however during which Fabrikant is immersed. The opening is then contextualized as Fabrikant approaches a microphone. “Do any of you have that relationship to someone where you have so much to say but you’ll never say anything because you’re worried it will cause the sixth mass extinction?” It’s humorous but additionally penetrating, chatting with the expertise of being in a relationship during which one should continuously be on the protection. The opening of invisible risks is apropos. Fabrikant has lengthy checklist of entreaties (“I beg you to like what I’m doing”) that echo Russell’s earlier supplication, although this time on a way more human stage, the clear consciousness of her personal self-compromise all of the extra heart-wrenching.
Another deeply private piece is McKenzie Raynor’s Square One, the place Raynor strikes from falling, rolling, defeated actions into a spot of power, donning her pointe sneakers and stripping to her undergarments alongside the best way. Choreographically, the dance actions are a bit typical and possibly not doing as a lot as they might to inform Raynor’s story. That being mentioned, I can acknowledge an artist who isn’t just portraying a danger, however taking one, and that vulnerability is a robust assertion all by itself. Plus, there’s a backbend en pointe, which takes CHOPS.
While the present was heavy on solos, one particularly, on the misplaced and located, evokes multiples. Through intelligent lighting design, billed creator Eviana, Evan, Ev crafts a world the place the dancer trios with two shadow-selves on the wall. Playing with the angle of sunshine, the shadows typically stretch and deform, typically act in unison, and different occasions seem to bounce of their very own accord. Thoughtfully folding lighting design into the choreography of sweeping, lilting tenderness, Eviana, Evan, Ev brilliantly merges the conceptual and visible.
Finely honed choreography can be on show in Wade Madsen Group’s The Scent of Listening. Seven dancers in classic clothes and fits stroll in unison teams that splinter and rejoin like eddies in a stream. Accented with contemplative pauses, the dancers carry out a single gesture that then dissolves again into the strolling move. An outdated timey recording of mechanical directions is inter-spliced with contemplative string music and the occasional marimba beat, whereas the dancers repeat basic jazz dance strikes in a rotating sequence. Everything evokes a way of the previous, or maybe a celestial view of time passing and folding in on itself. The dancers stand in a circle, turning towards one another in sluggish movement, increasing the house of a second, earlier than snapping again to the current and the second is washed away.
in anticipation of the golden hour by Flatchestedmama. Photo by Jim Coleman.
in anticipation of the golden hour begins with a guidelines: “Dress, bun, bow, hammer, saw…” she says in references to the objects she’s introduced along with her, “OH, glasses!” She runs off stage, returning with five-foot cardboard spectacles. It’s a humous begin to Flatchestedmama’s comedic and touching treatise on ageing and loneliness. She sits and performs her noticed—the haunting wail of the instrument counterpoint to a intelligent slideshow of textual content and pictures that’s speedy fireplace poetry and punchlines. Screen photographs of Tinder notifications give her updates on her “likability” and varicose veins are in contrast with tree roots. “Love sick on someone else’s love story” it reads, because the artist’s personal identify and picture are rendered within the fashion of a Call Me by Your Name film poster. The pacing is immersive—I’m solely simply catching one picture earlier than the subsequent arrives—however every snapshot deepens the understanding, portray a vivid impression of the artist’s inside life over the trajectory of the piece.
Closing out the night is the collaborative and cross-disciplinary work of Moonyeka and the collective House of Kilig, waling-waling palpitations. Video projections by Arabella Bautista pair luxurious and distorted flower photographs with traces of sensual nature poetry. In coordination, Moonyeka and fellow dancer Gaby Colon lounge upstage in gauzy pinks and purples. Their costumes, by Heidi Grace Acuna, comprise massive petal kinds that transforms the dancers into the literal picture of an orchid. Their dance of poses orbits each other, often coming into contact for a held form, or a quick burst of choreography. The motion has a non-committal, aimless high quality and it’s laborious to know if that’s unintended, or if the artists are simply going for a floaty, playfully languid vibe. Either method, it’s an formidable imaginative and prescient of design components coming collectively to create a memorable aesthetic world.
12 Minutes Max Edition Three befell June 25-26, 2023 at Base Experimental Arts.