By Natalie Forster, Features Assignment Editor
On Wednesday, Ed Simone, Ph.D., opened the stage up to LanDforms, a partnership of Danielle Evelena Doell and Leah Crosby, invited to the Rigas Theater in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts by the Martine Performing Arts Series.
“Give yourself permission to laugh at the irony and satire and humor of relationships in motions and space,” Simone said.
Doell and Crosby met while in college at Ohio University. The two dancers didn’t know each other very well while they were in the program, but they started talking more after graduating and both moved to Martha’s Vineyard. The two had similar lives and they quickly decided to team up and work on creating choreography together.
In their Quick Center debut, the duo performed two pieces: “Trammel” and “Lyrical Dance.” Their performance was accompanied by Harrison Pearse Burke, who worked the lighting design for the show.
The two dancers focus on contemporary work, which gives way to audience interpretation. The two focused on the passion of the performance and the feelings associated with it, not just telling a clear story for anyone to follow.
Part of the performance’s appeal is that it doesn’t always have to make sense. The two brought about a chance to take a break from life and let minds wander. They describe their art as dark, tragic humor.
“Sometimes there’s an arch and we want to hit certain emotional levels,” Crosby said, talking about the strangeness of their performances. “It just makes sense.”
In their contemporary work, the emotions were cast mainly through the changing colored lighting. During moments of happiness, there was either just a spotlight on them or bright colors, like yellow, portraying a sun. During moments of sadness, the lights dimmed or turned darker hues.
Music also played a big role in the show. At some moments, the music slowed down to sad songs and quickly jumped to fast, upbeat ones, signifying fast changes in attitudes and emotions when growing to love someone. At times, Hawaiian music played. At other times, it was silent. An energetic Backstreet Boys song changed to a P!nk ballad within moments.
Only at one point in the performances did the girls talk, but they managed to incorporate words in other ways, as well. They performed spoken-word poetry in the beginning of their piece “Lyrical Dance.” They talked about how holding onto each other may be worth it.
“We love pop music and all the layers behind it,” said Doell. “We wanted to incorporate that.
With spoken word, the two also wrote words on their bodies with markers. “You” and “Me” were physically written all over their bodies, showing the struggles that love brings about.
The duo also likes playing around with different shapes and objects in their work. While “Trammel” was just the two of them, they used layers of clothes and roller skates to help show their relationship in “Lyrical Dance.” They positioned themselves in lines, which were also a main component of the show; they wanted to show the power of the relationship through the shapes of their bodies.
“Dominance and power and standing versus lying down says something,” said Crosby.
While the two have an undeniable chemistry, they currently are living in two different areas, Crosby in Martha’s Vineyard and Doell in Washington. They still have been trying to make things work, completing pieces fast. The choreography for “Lyrical Dance” was completed earlier today, they jokingly told the audience.
“Right now, we’re making the long-distance thing work however we can,” said Crosby, “But I hope the future holds us living in the same place and dancing together more again.”
