Faye Driscoll and Jesse Zaritt explore each other’s ― and their own ― identity in YOU’RE ME (photo by Christy Pessagno)
The Kitchen
512 West 19th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Thursday – Sunday through April 21, $15, 8:00
212-255-5793 ext11
www.thekitchen.org
fayedriscoll.com
New York-based choreographer Faye Driscoll examines the complicated, ever-changing nature of interpersonal relationships in her latest evening-length work, You’re Me. As the audience enters the space at the Kitchen, Driscoll and dancer Jesse Zaritt are standing still and ridiculously tall at the back of the stage, wearing a bevy of costumes that reference Lewis Carroll’s Red and White Queens as well as Winnie from Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, combining humor with absurdity. Pieces of their outfits start to fall off until the performers are reduced to their basic selves and begin exploring each other through a series of awkward movements as if on a first date, feeling out the possibilities as they touch, squirm, hug, eat, and experiment with their bodies, learning about themselves and their partner. This first section, which is performed with little or no background music and evokes silent films at times, goes on slightly too long but eventually morphs into a middle piece in which the duo goes crazy with spray paint before ending with an exhilarating display of props and costumes (courtesy of Emily Roysdon) changing at a furious pace. You’re Me, part of which was presented as not…not (part 1) at last June’s Gotham Dance Festival at the Joyce, is another strong, intricately conceived work from Driscoll (There is so much mad in me, 837 Venice Blvd), a talented choreographer who is not afraid to take chances and challenge both her audience and her dancers. Here she delves into the very essence of art and creativity as she and Zaritt keep going for ninety breathless minutes that allow plenty of room for improvisation, so you never can guess quite what is going to happen next.