This article by Nicole Plett was prepared for the December 11, 2002 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
In the aftermath of September 11, Americans everywhere were drenched in a sense of great loss -- a sense that was as unfamiliar to most of us as it was disabling. Yet for some American immigrants whose lives originated in countries and cultures where crippling violence was all too familiar, the reaction was palpably different. These individuals seemed to draw strength from learned habits of endurance and resolve, strength that gave them hope for the future.
One such immigrant, Liliana Attar, artistic director of the Princeton-based Connections Dance Theater, turned her grief into communal creativity. The result is "Moving Forward," a multi-media dance drama that will be presented Friday, December 13, at Princeton University's Hamilton Murray Theater.
Presented earlier in the year under the title "September 12," the work brings together the collaborative talents of choreographer Liliana Attar, playwright Sonya Aronowitz, and mask-maker Laura Tabakman. The dance drama's new title more accurately describes its focus on the demonstrated resilience of the human spirit and on the ways individuals and society unite, rebuild, and renew in the face of loss.
Modern dance, tango, drama, poetry, music, video, and masks are brought to serve the multi-media work that runs about 80 minutes without intermission. An additional collaborative dimension comes from the company of strong young dancers, many of them trained in Argentina, and many of whom contribute their own choreography. These include the three lead men: Jose Luis Basualdo, Gabriel Contreras, and Dardo Galleto. Additional tango choreography is contributed by Galleto's fine partner Karina Romero, with dancer Silvana Brizuela Weigel.
Despite its upbeat message, Attar's expressionistic dance theater asks quite a bit of its viewers. Its theme of recovery demands as much. The program opens with dark glimpses of the September 11 disaster, and goes on to explore some of the smaller but no less devastating domestic disasters that stalk families at all times.
Two scripts by Aronowitz represent the domestic side of things. Her "Anonymous Gift or Peter's Box" is a vivid chronicle of a solitary character's descent into depression and despair followed by an arduous but purposeful recovery.
The story, which is read on tape, begins with the words: "And so it happened... I lost my place in the world... One morning happiness just lodged in my throat. It wouldn't come out and my lips refused to give it shape." Accompanying this compelling text is a terrific solo by Gabriel Contrera, which opens on a slow and meditative note as the bare-chested dancer focuses minutely on the lines of arm, shoulder, and backbone. As protagonist Peter rises out of depression, Contrera is joined by other performers who dance out the quintessential romantic attraction and sensuality that keeps the world turning.
The second dance drama, "The Make Over," written by Aronowitz and performed by Liliana Attar with daughter Nicole Attar's voice on tape, is an oblique telling of a story of domestic violence in which a mother rationalizes but cannot disguise the facts of family life to her young and inquisitive daughter. Movement is mostly mimed here and but for the possibility that the pair will flee their menacing household, this is the more frightening of the show's two scripts.
Also featured is Pablo Neruda's "Saddest Poem" -- testament to other troubles at other times -- which accompanies the young company's ensemble dance. The poem is recited on tape both in Spanish and in English translation.
The "Moving Forward" finale is titled "Hold the Door for Others." It is inspired by Robert Fazio, a young man who lost his father on September 11, and went on to found the Hold the Door organization in his father's honor. Performed by five figures in plain dark unitards, embellished with fantastical and compelling masks suspended from their costumes like the disembodied faces of suffering souls, it closes the show on an apocalyptic note.
As a whole, the Connections company presents sustained elegance, fierce concentration, and some technical fireworks in terms of athleticism and isolation and articulation of limbs and spine. The October performance I attended was presented on the small stage of the Sophie Fahs Theater of the Unitarian Church, where the dynamic dancers showed great resourcefulness in their determination to perform "all the jumps that fit."
This fall Attar, who trained at the National School of Dance in Buenos Aires, launched Connections Dance Theater Center for the Performing Arts; education director is Cory Ann Alperstein. Designed for people of all ages, the center offers a student curriculum, guest artist performances, and Saturday morning workshop series.
"Through the interactions and collaborations of students, staff and professional artists, CDT hopes to build a dynamic community engaged in the delightful process of communication, creative expression, and entertainment," writes Attar in her mission statement. Offerings include theater arts for children as young as four through high school and world drumming classes for grades three and up.
Attar's creativity and ability to gather an art community have made her a positive force in our dance area. As she writes in her program notes to "Moving On," "we strongly believe that the country, and the world, needs to talk about the future instead of the past in order to deal with loss."
-- Nicole Plett