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 The REDCAT is a wonderful black box theatre, which, on
January 9th, a Saturday, at 3:00 pm was open to the public for free.
The presentation was introduced by Rosanna Gamson/World Wide who has been
working with Chorea Theatre Association of Lodz, Poland. Its Artistic
Director, Tomasz Rodowicz, is an animated Polish man who is very excited by
Ancient Greek rhythms and texts.
His three-member team was in good company with invited
local performing artists for a week of workshop exercises. These
exercises included vocalizations and dance movement.
The presentation was organized into three parts.
Every one was asked to wear red and/or black with black being the
predominant choice. The deep psychology that was used to reinforce
the research clear back to ancient Greece made for fascinating theatre.
References were made to Delphi and Bacchus.
Orthodox divisions were used: seven men were on stage right and twelve
women were on stage left. Partners joined, crossing the space to meet
and dance in the center. Movement seems to have evolved out of
improvisations for individuals, partners, and groups. Songs and
circles were themes. The themes of the alphabet were points of
departure for movement and vocalizations. Duets filled the space
related only by the rhythms of a flute and a drum.
A group formed down center stage in a choral format that
produced a kind of chanting. One female voice made a horse-like sound
to end the performance.
Elina Toneva, Tomasz Krzyzanowski, and Dominika
Krzyzanowska did an encore to a resonant Bulgarian song. These
visiting artists fit into the scheme of the presentation very well.
The combination in this culmination of workshop
technique is worth following. Dance, music, and lyrics combine in the
performance to bridge the gap between ancient and contemporary theatre; it
takes humor as well as anthropological fieldwork to bring the elements into
focus.
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