Over the weekend, Li Chiao-Ping, a renowned artistic director, choreographer and associate professor of dance at the University of Wisconsin, presented “Painkillers,” a collaborative modern-dance piece performed to the music of composers Daniel Feiler and Ryan Smith, with multimedia and video artistry done by award-winning director Douglas Rosenberg.
Presented in the Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space located in Lathrop Hall, this emotional 75-minute show illustrated various aspects of pain and loss in nine movements. The six-dancer show was performed by Li Chiao-Ping, Robin Baartman, Kim Blanchard, Colleen Coy, Amanda Sharp and Collette Stewart.
The performance began with Li Chiao-Ping entering the stage to explain a story of a woman, though she was not the woman. Her narration throughout “Painkillers” developed the story of a woman who had lost her way and was unsure of her surroundings. The dialogue furthered the theme of pain.
The stage was set up with three different scrims — one facing the audience from the center of the stage and two on the sides of the stage facing right and left. On the floor of the stage (in the center of the three scrims) were two platforms. Each was illuminated by green and white spotlights throughout the show. The scrims were used as a vehicle for video artistry, presenting footage of flying black birds, water, lists of medications and interviews of the dancers explaining their viewpoints on what pain is, how they feel it and how they deal with it.
The dancers wore two main costumes throughout the show. In most movements, the costuming was visible white undergarments seen through tough transparent white pants. The women also wore different white tops. While there may be a number of reasons white was the chosen color for the piece, a theory may be the color’s link to psychological symbolism. White is a color of peace and protection. Too much white connotes feelings of bareness, coldness and lifelessness. An additional costume was nudity. While nothing was truly shown to the audience, save a bare back, the dancers were topless for several minutes until they put their tops on while performing in one piece. This “costume” also suggests several meanings tying into agony.
Much of the choreography of Painkillers was abstract with multiple contrasting motions. Very effective movements included shivering bodies, near-hyperventilating breaths and convulsive jumping followed by dancers collapsing to the floor. Each dancer performed her own solo pieces, and there were also all-company numbers. In the all-cast portions, much of the staging was done asymmetrically; though each dancer had minimal performing space, it was visually effective and appealing. There was great emphasis on the dancer’s line and shape of her spine, as well as detail to small movements such as isolations in the hand or facial expressions. Each piece was powerful, energetic and performed with the highest quality to convey grief and anguish, with an underlying theme of courage and triumph.
Two of the most disturbing performances of the evening, “Holding” and “Avoidance/Attraction,” dealt with relief found in drugs and sexuality as it relates to pain. “Holding,” the third dance presented, was both gripping and alarming. The dancer moved to the sounds of a guitar as sharp static noises, reminiscent of those heard in “Requiem for a Dream,” played behind.
The energetic movement predominantly consisted of convulsive jumps and collapses to the ground. After multiple collapses, the dancer rolled back and forth on the ground as the music was cut and a narrator read aloud lists of medications, which were also presented on the scrims, as well as the portion of the floor where the soloist was moving. This outstanding moment strongly communicated pain relief found in a sea of drugs.
In “Avoidance/Attraction,” the seventh piece performed, sexuality was the subject. With amazing expression and technique, the soloist unmistakably presented very sexual movements using minimal space; the choreography began slowly as the dancer seemed to be avoiding domination of an invisible threat. Eventually her movements became quickened, sharp and jagged until she collapsed to the floor, where she slowly yielded to the threat and began sexual motions. This piece was horrifying to watch and was unclear in its message — was the dancer in pain from sexual dominance or was sex a part of her relief?
“Painkillers” was a thought-provoking and well-done piece. The show will next tour to Illinois Wesleyan University May 16 and Dance Place in Washington, D.C., July 24-25.
