“It's after the end of the world. Don't we know it yet?
Choreographer Angie Pittman said this on stage Saturday, paraphrasing Afrofuturist jazz musician Sun Ra. Pittman was performing his solo “Black Life Chord Changes'' at Brooklyn's BAM Fisher-Hillman Studio, double with Kyle Marshall's Joan of Arc-inspired quartet “Joan'' at its New York premiere. . The end of the world and martyred saints may sound dark, but this program is part of Pioneer East Collective's Out Front. The festival was a thrilling combination of different approaches to resisting oppression through creativity.
Pittman's partially improvised work is divided into contrasting halves: “Day” and “Night.” The first part, like much of the choreographer's early work, feels inwardly focused. Pittman starts in silence, hands in the air, heels lifting and dropping with a thud as he seems to be searching, hesitating to think. Gradually, snippets and growls of songs escape their mouths, building up into the spiritual “I'll Never Turn Back No More.” Now, when their heels drop, the impact is accompanied by an inexplicable metallic crash.
When the gospel harmonies begin, it's a recording by a group called Ther'Up.Y, and Cody Jensen's sound design is so vivid that I find myself looking for the singer. To this music, Pittman paces back and forth along the purple neon lights at the front of the stage (equally excellent lighting design is by Tuce Yasak). Pitman is still probing, rotating and wriggling his hips.
In “Night” the choreographer wears a cloak. (Pittman later said, “Costume is important to the revolution.”) In the second half, the two talk — both quote Audre Lorde's Dark Ancient Places of Possibility, and both talk about their favorite vampires. (Wesley Snipes from “Blade'').
“Day'' is somewhat ambiguous, but “night'' is as clear as day. Pittman explains the idea in TED talk fashion. Bit by bit, the gears of the code shift grind as their tone shifts between their own quiet, acerbic voices and a broader black voice. They play this for comedy, but it doesn't always sound like they're in control. The pairing of topics (vampires and black feminism) may seem a little random, but in the end it all comes together in a clever argument that ultimately ignites a fire in the hearts of the oppressors. It becomes clear that you are going to put it on.
The most effective are simple theatrical touches, such as the way Pittman moves in and out of the shadows. Using a spray from an aerosol container reveals surfaces of light that are normally invisible. The crash that accompanies the heel drop of “Day” turns out to be a sample of the rattling labor of the labor song “I Be So Glad When the Sun Goes Down.” Pittman wants us to physically feel that sound, and by the end of “Black Life Chord Changes,” we do.
Marshall's Joan also depicts a struggle against tyranny, but his methods are shockingly old-fashioned. Set to Julius Eastman's 1981 composition “Prelude to the Advent of Joan of Arc,” a dense and intense work for ten saw cellos, this is a dance. Four incredible performers, Justin Daniels, Taina Lyons, Kelly Smith, and Sid Worthy, are in almost constant motion, running and jumping across and across the stage with passion. Daniels jumps so high that he almost hits the ceiling.
Although the work is inspired by this saint, it is more a work of resistance against slavery and colonial rule. Costumes, hair and makeup by Ed Tastic give the dancers a tribal aesthetic, with white marks on their faces like the chinstrap of a helmet. It is characterized by a white circle around one eye, like the statue of Jeanne. She gathers suffering with her gestural language, sometimes raising her fist as she leads her army through a crawl.
“Joan'' is part of a trio of compositions composed by Eastman, whose music has been receiving renewed attention in recent years. If “Joan'' is a representative example, it is a promising project. The sequence of musically responsive choreographed solos can feel mechanical in parts, but the cumulative impact is powerful. When Worthy orders the troops off stage, she does so with an authority that everyone would follow.
