Asya Zlatina and Dancers is a constant reminder for myself that Philadelphia dancers are connected and collaborating with each other. Drawing from contemporary dance, like at this past week’s rehearsal with choreography by Asya Zlatina, it is interesting to see each of the dancers’ personalities come out in different stages of the rehearsal. They are preparing for a performance of Barry: Mamaloshen at Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on April 5th.
The rehearsal was without mirrors, but Noah Dickinson a videographer, and myself watched on to try to catch some of the minute details in the choreography. When the dancers are in sync the movement of one body to the next with similar forms noticeably changed shapes, but at the same time there was a sense of losing one’s self in the motion.
Holding onto the ideas that come with the dance, BARRY: Mamaloshen from 2016 Fringe there seems to be this turning of age, language, and crowding in of modern views of an ancient world. From sitting in on two of Zlatina’s rehearsals there is a play at work in the count. They were pulling natural forms out of the count and that brought it alive, and gave it a feeling. The transition from pure movement that flowed to a distinct pause, like the seated position of the dancer in the lower left showed how a calculated attitude could be conveyed. Was the movement that lead up to a dramatic stoppage needed to create this character?
[Millennium Stage, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, NW, Washington DC] April 5, 2018