dumb type.

dumb type BEHNKE CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE SEATTLE, WASHINGTON NOVEMBER 18-21, 1999 REVIEWED BY GIGI BERARDI

[OR] is the newest work of dumb type, a company of interdisciplinary artists that celebrates a popular Japanese aesthetic of hyper-modulated visual and audio elements. Choreographed in a tiny office in Kyoto, Japan, dumb type's [OR] is an assault on the senses--spatial (visual, aural, visceral) and temporal, with projections running throughout in double and triple time.

[OR], part of the company's canon of high-tech poems, is a work that brings new meaning to the descriptor, "white piece." In [OR], everything is white--costumes, backdrop, props, and lighting. Images of death, like the operating room scene featured in the piece, are squeaky clean, awash in bright light.

[OR] in fact bombards the senses with sight and sound--if the bass does not get (to) you, the relentless strobe will. The strobe distorts every movement, accentuating the percussive nature of the movement.

In duos and trios, the dancers work a peculiar medicine, measuring pulses, checking corpses, looking for signs of life. The arm and leg gestures, quiet and simple, alternate with in-your-face karaoke. At one point in the piece, a woman opens her mouth as large as possible and lip-synchs a blood-curdling yell.

Watching [OR] is like taking a roller coaster ride, with each calm moment followed by a predictable storm of blinding light and thunderous bass--a barrage of sight and sound that dominates rather than punctuates the stage drama.

In this work of contrasts, steely calm alternates with life-saving operating room theatrics, cerebral stillness with deafening sound (the company provided packaged ear plugs; sunglasses also would have been useful), safe and minimalist movements with violent chair flinging, affectionate gesture with threatening blows, and high-speed projections juxtaposed with a perfectly calm and still dancer standing front and center--becoming part of the landscape, moving into and through it.

This aggressive piece grabs the audience and does not let go, building to an almost unbearable crescendo. Computer-choreographed in part, the overall effect of the work is that of watching some strange video game featuring a display of hyperactive figures that the strobe creates. If not breathtaking for its theatrical risks, it certainly is for its technical feats. Kudos to the programmers who have developed the computer capabilities and projection techniques to help create an unforgettable performance.