2009 "Bones" costume review in Thirteen by Susan Yung "骨“ 服裝設計評論

Notebook Date: 4.06.2009
Project: costume design
Event: Bones 骨
Event Date: premiere 10.02.2009 at National Experimental Theatre 國家實驗劇場
Presented by: Horse Dance Theatre 驫舞劇場
Title: Bones 骨
Choreographer: Wu-Kang Chen 陳武康���Wei-Chia Su 蘇威嘉���Shu-Yi Chou 周書毅���Tsung-Lung Cheng 鄭宗龍���Yu-Min Yang 楊育鳴
Dancers: 陳武康���蘇威嘉���周書毅���鄭宗龍���楊育鳴

costume design 服裝設計���Jordan K 高端人

Horseplay

by Susan Yung

Horse, the male troupe from Taiwan presented by Eliot Feld’s Mandance Project, performed two evenings at the Joyce Theater recently. Wedged among eleven shows of Feld repertory, the evenings have in common the dancers Wu-Kang Chen and Wei-Chia Su. The company performed the US premiere of Bones, an austere work that edges away from a reliance on visual jokes and puns—horseplay, if you will.

The setting and costumes beg comparison to a Calvin Klein ad—in a good way. The five men wear different colored briefs and tees (costumes by Jordan Koh). They’re set against clean white walls with jagged angled tops lining the stage; with one swinging door for entrances, plus downstage openings (set by Jih-Chun Huang). As the show progresses, clothing is added and subtracted.

The movement is appealing in part because it looks like experimentation that anyone could do, but taken to an extreme—as if one rule was set and then followed to exhaustion. This “naïve” style alternates with flashes of virtuosity, pushing the limits of the technique to satisfy purists. Shu-Yi Chou, in particular, has an elegant, vivid line. Frenetic phrases of whipping legs and arms, or two dancers leaning on one another, can yield to complex, knotty trio work, or a would-be animal herd.

Velocity, seen here in 2008, contained more slapstick humor and use of props. In Bones, one funny segment features a man who, despite being chased and disrobed piece by piece by another dancer, doesn’t break stride. In another part, one man sits atop another to form a giant.

Set to “music details” by Yannick Dauby, some of the sections blur together in the mind or run on a bit long, but there is a basic curiosity and sweetness that appeals. I just hope the company doesn’t completely lose the sense of humor that sets them apart.

Photo: Chiang Chih Chen 陳長志