Parallel Memories

There are moments of real beauty in this piece that explores the lines that divide and define us, but all too often it is overly earnest and protracted.

It begins with the dancers marking out a series of lines, circles and words in the space with chalk and tape. This takes a while but once the marks are down they go on to explore their bodies’ own capacity for mark-making both sculpturally, as they move through the space, and literally, as they add to or change the marks on the floor.

Some of the most beautiful sequences are also the smallest. One dancer discovers a tattoo on the other’s arm, a series of literal marks left on the skin, and, later in the piece another dancer seems to examine the veins and pressure points on his own body.

The two dancers (Jean Abreu and Jorge Garcia) are incredibly skilled and intertwine their bodies as if they’re finishing each other’s sentences. Unfortunately their technical ability cannot make up for the piece’s structural unevenness or for sequences that feel massively overextended.

– Chris Hill