Four Paths from "100 Ways"
Performed at La MaMa E.T.C.
Reviewed on 6/15/00 by Henry BaumgartnerLaz Brezer, a Canadian dancer who is married to Kei Takei and has had a prominent role in many of her works, mover with her to Japan in 1992 and has since rarely been seen here. Recently, however, he has begun developing his own work, and a sample was on view at La MaMa recently.
In "Invocation", from 1999, a solo to original music by Yukio Tsuji, Brezer moves slowly into the light. The piece, we are told, is intended as a prologue to an evening of performance.
"My Friend" (1999) was to be a collaboration with the stage designer Tetsu Maeda, a close friend of Brezer’s. Unfortunately, Maeda died as work on the piece was just beginning. But Brezer completed the piece, which is inspired by and dedicated to the memory of his friend, and designed the set himself. The work had been planned as a solo, but a few days before he died Maeda told Brezer that he envisioned him dancing before a group of dancers, and so a group of dancers there is --eight of them besides Brezer–though they tend to remain in the background. Live music was provided by by Yukio Tsuji, costumes and banner dye art are by Mariko Namikawa, and video elements, some quite lovely, were contributed by Shunsuke Mizoe, Haruo Higuma and Keigo Yamamoto.
Perhaps because of the extra emotional impetus from the circumstances of its composition, this was by far the most moving and generally satisfying piece on the program. As seems to be characteristic of Brezer’s style, there is not much overt action, and what movement there is tends to the slow and hieratic. But the ceremonial and symetrical feel of the piece, almost like a religious ritual, was surprisingly effective and affecting.
The next piece, a solo billed as "Untitled", with no choreographer credited, presented a bit of a mystery. The program as originally announced included a new piece that Daniel Nagrin had choreographed on Brezer, to several of Chopin’s Preludes. Apparently, last-minute artistic differences caused Nagrin to insist that his name be taken off the program, and the piece accordingly was danced with no indication of its provenance. The dance is full of fascinating, delicate little gestures that do look rather like what I’ve seen of Nagrin’s work. Brezer seemed to be now holding and protecting something, now sauntering about, now yearning like a bird. The piece was well worth seeing, regardless of whose dance it was. The abandoned title of the disowned dance? "Lost and Never Found".
Between pieces, video art by Masahiko Kurashime was projected on several layers of scrims. The program concluded with "The Rope" (1998), in which Brezer looked a bit confused — or maybe it was just me. There was apparently some story that I didn’t get, though there was indeed a rope that descended from above. But this was the oldest piece on the program — and when a new choreographer’s work gets better as he goes along, well, that’s something to applaud.