PRESSURE VAPOR
Cecly Placent wrote of Pressure/Vapor: “physical, emotional and mental tension transform Geismar’s body and the bodies of her dancers into conduits between the redemptive world of the spirit and the human condition struggling against obstacles and oppression.” The first section of the dance boils to the point of overflow and the second explores the space that comes after. The dancers find moments of mutual support but are caught in what Placenti describes as “the polarity between internal tension and physical release.”
UP END
Geismar’s solo, Up End, explores the boundaries between personal disclosure, self-display, and hiding. Moments of flight-like freedom are interrupted by the physical distortion of tension and fear. Created as a site-specific work for Green Space in Long Island City, at the dance’s conclusion, Geismar hangs from a steel support column, a possible escape route, but at what cost?
THE BIND
The two dancers in The Bind strain for an elusive sense of true connection. A halting, stuttering physicality of ambivalence emerges, as the struggle to express themselves. Impulses rise to exit the body but are funneled back down and buried inside.
Attachment
“Attachment” explores the push and pull of our earliest relationships -- the conflict between our need for each other and our desire for independence. The dance was developed in collaboration with veteran performer, Debra Wanner and long-time Drastic Action company member, Alessandra Larson. The score is by Canadian Folk Music Award Nominee, Annabelle Chvostek.
There's Many a Slip
"There's Many a Slip," centers on our common need to be understood, the difficulty many people have in communicating their deepest feelings and the emotional games we play. A hyper-refined pavane breaks into a competitive crying match. Emily Bunning stutters and wheezes as her partners try to shake words from her body. These contrasting images of repressed and exaggerated expression reveal the contradictions between the veneer we create and the underlying reality.
Desire
In Geismar’s solo “Desire” she becomes an otherwordly creature – part reptile, part bird, part masquerade performer who grapples with hunger, punishment and need. She investigates the tenuous freedom that emerges when this creature manages to harness the power of her inner impulses.
Rocker
"Rocker” is a duet for Angharad Davies and a rocking chair, a darkly comic struggle between the animate and the inanimate that reveals this character's obsessive internal world.
All Fall Down
“All Fall Down” is an absurdist look at group dynamics. Part Dr. Seuss, part Hieronymus Bosch, this piece creates a surreal landscape in which four dancers compete for power and attention. Childhood games take an eerie turn toward violence as their play veers dangerously out of control.
The Fitting
“The Fitting,” a duet, explores the clash between the desire to bond and the need for independence. The dancers move against each other with an effortful, tactile physicality as if they are reaching into each other’s cores, scouring each other’s insides. At moments they curl together upside down, one body folded within the other, twins in the womb. Like new born deer trying to stand they skitter out of control with knees buckling and shaking. Whether they are sisters, friends, lovers or mother and child, they can neither completely merge nor totally separate.
The Unbidden and Unhinged
“The Unbidden and Unhinged,” a dance in two scenes, takes an absurdist look at conflicting aspects of an individual psyche. SceneI: a demented solo figure introduces “the case of Self versus Self.” Fractured by her inner battles, she is a one-woman courtroom drama. Scene II: a downtrodden mob appears, each equipped with a hard-sided briefcase. The wildly swinging cases take charge, catapulting them into cathartic crash landings. The cases multiply threefold as the battle nears its knock down, drag out conclusion.
Vanya and Yelena
“Vanya” and “Yelena” are multifaceted, companion solos inspired by characters from Anton Chekhov’s play ‘Uncle Vanya.’ Geismar was drawn to the humorous and heartbreaking tone of Chekhov’s portraits. Yelena is a spoiled beauty who escapes her ennui by playing at seduction while Vanya is a clumsy, near-sighted, ponderous figure.
Snare Tide
Geismar originally created “Snare Tide” as a site-specific work for the majestic gardens at the Wave Hill estate. The archetypal quality of the gardens inspired a Hellenic element in the work. Geismar imagines a tribe of women with magical powers. Their movement is intricately lyrical with syncopated rhythms that pass between bodies and spacial patterns that sweep across wide space. As the piece progresses, the movement’s sensuality builds, taking on a wild, Dionysian and off-kilter momentum.
It Starts With An Evil Stepmother
“It Starts With An Evil Stepmother” is Geismar’s nod to the comically, macabre landscape of the Brothers Grimm. Our heroine, Sunflower, blooming with innocent desire is kidnapped by her evil stepmother, a terrifying character, collectively embodied by three performers. The piece’s outlandish imagery and extreme physical qualities have entertained audience members of all ages. The moral of this darkly comic work? The innocent get eaten in pies, but they get their revenge in the end.
Wall
“Wall” is a succinct, high impact investigation of psychological confinement through the exploration of a physical limitation. In this duet, the dancers must remain in contact with the wall at the back of the performance space, and as they grapple with this restriction, the wall is both their obstacle and their support.