SNOW and COUNTRY MUSIC come together at the Tank
The Tank
354 West 45th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
November 9-10, $10, 9:30
www.thetanknyc.org/dance
www.brownpapertickets.com
A crowded house at the Tank was on hand for the premieres of two short pieces on November 9 that deal with memory and loneliness. (The performances continue November 10.) In the work-in-progress WHY I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC, D. J. Mendel reads a love letter about his relationship with his father and tries to explain his love for country music as he stands in front of a screen showing old family photos. (Mendel has called it “a love poem to my father accidentally sent to a woman I used to love.”) He also shares shots with a mysterious woman in a sexy red dress (Chelsea Crowe) and goes through white envelopes, dropping pictures, nails, and other small objects onto the floor, as if discarding parts of his past. Written by Mendel and directed by Salvatore Interlandi, the well-performed WHY I LOVE COUNTRY MUSIC also features snippets of country songs, although the ending does border on treacle.
Tymberly Canale, a longtime member of Big Dance Theater who was a stand-out in the company’s recent production of COMME TOUJOURS HERE I STAND, has written SNOW, a powerful and evocative seventeen-minute study. Canale, wearing a simple trench coat over a white day dress with bright red pumps, goes for a late-night walk, where she encounters a solitary, unidentified male stranger in a long coat (Neil Harris). Canale narrates the piece with poetic text, stopping at points to move across the stage in carefully choreographed movements both solo and with Harris that are strong and heavy, wrought with emotion, the opposite of lightly falling snow. The costuming has excellent little touches, such as Harris’s bright red socks, revealed only in one sequence of movements, while a pair of videos by David Tinapple appear in unexpected places, adding to the drama. We’re looking forward to seeing more from the very talented Canale.