Fagan Family Triumphs. (Reviews: New York).

Fagan Family Triumphs Garth Fagan Dance Joyce Theater New York, New York October 30-November 11, 2001

Like the title of its 1999 work, Garth Fagan Dance in performance is an invitation to Woza, the Zulu word for "come celebrate"--and the sheer joy, even ecstasy, of the dancing body is reaffirmed and exalted in the company's work.

Fagan is interested in the architecture of line and shape, and the geometry of movement through space. His formidable dancers are wedded to his equally formidable technique: Their individual prowess and expressive powers are equal partners in an exquisitely virtuosic marriage of form and function. Even in somber suites (the "Come Forced Voyage" section of Woza, with slavery as the subtext; In Memoriam ..., dedicated to the victims of September 11, 2001), the sense of physical and spiritual triumph is palpable.

Fagan seems to be an adept administrator as well as a consummate artist. In an eleven-member ensemble, he can boast of dancers with two- and three-decade tenures (Norwood Pennewell and Steve Humphrey). Others have been on board for more than ten years (Natalie Rogers, Sharon Skepple, Chris Morrison, Bill Ferguson, Joel Valentin). Lighting designer C.T. Oakes joined the ensemble in 1979. The result is a sensational ensemble, seasoned in Fagan's performance aesthetic--a rare girl in an era of pickup dancers and transient troupes.

Music of the Line/Words in the Shape, which had its world premiere at the 2001 American Dance Festival (where Fagan received the Samuel H. Scripps/ADF Award for lifetime achievement), made its New York debut. It's mature, vintage Fagan--a savvy, show-stopping play between stillness and movement "noise," between suspended and expended energy. From a standing stretch forward in a quirky variation of a parallel fourth position, dancers sank into a yoga-like cross-legged sit; in contrast, out of a second-position leg extension, they exploded into a barrage of swift chaine turns, with arms semaphoring like signal switches on an express train. The turns and leg lifts are signature Faganisms, innovatively deployed in each new choreography. Here, dancers hopped into arabesque, circled the lifted leg to an open second position, hanging it on an invisible hook high in the air, then quietly and slowly lowered it. Another wonderful moment: As Skepple, Rogers, Erin Barnett (a ballerina in disguise), and Nicolette Depass perched like African sculptures (legs parallel, knees bent, torsos slightly pitched forward from the buttocks, arms hanging at sides, gazing downward), Pennewell, a light-footed Pierrot, bounced through their landscape in the high, quiet sit-leaps that he does so well. Stillness became a function of movement. The John Adams score and Oakes's lighting set a mood that compelled us to listen with our eyes and see with our ears--as subtly suggested by the title.

Woza: Come celebrate matchless partnering between Pennewell and Rogers, Humphrey and Barnett; and knock-your-socks-off star quality all around. Wearing Fagan's challenging, visionary choreography like a second skin, this ensemble is peopled by performers who are eminently at home onstage and know how to invite the audience into their special world. Woza!