If you are checking out Fringe listings for something really cool to see this weekend, I recommend catching Cross-Sections playing at DANspace. This is a delight-filled program of films-on-dance about dance-on-film shorts, live dance pieces and one riveting outing of live flesh and blood dancer partnered and partnering two like-costumed dancers on screen. Dance of late has been elevated in mainstream consciousness and interest in no small measure by the surging popularity of TV programs such as So You Think You Can Dance. (I know I can't dance which is why it's such a thrill to see live, dancers who really can.) Last night, engaging New Brunswick filmmaker John Marshall's presentations were projected upon a black backdrop. Less than perfect for showing films. Surely black would "swallow" the projected imagery. So you would think. But, paradoxically, that didn't happen. The black screen somehow enhanced the alluring, sometimes haunting, sometimes madcap-funny, recorded dance numbers. The emotive, sensual and slyly erotic live dancing by Sarah Johnson (who doubled as choreographer) and Julie Mytka avoided check your brain at the door, pimp my ride showboating dance for more measured, gracefully honeyed, beautifully expressive narratives focussed on the timeless theme of love and loss. Either solo or paired, Johnson and Mytka offered fresh-faced, emotionally honest, often shiver-down-the-spine dance performances underpinned and buoyed by their impressive skill. Cross-Sections can be summed up as a wonderful rewarding ideosyncratic take on 'living in the now (live dance)' and 'living in the then that was now (film dance)'. A must see.
Performances: DANspace Sat Aug 30 6:00 and 9:30, Sun Aug 31 6:00 All ages 45 minutes $8.00
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