Berkeley Dance Project Explores Digital Mediums

Dance isn’t what it used to be. The era of matching leotards is long gone, synchronized scissor-legs have fallen by the wayside, and bare sets vanished with the telegram. Dance isn’t just about people in motion anymore. Every beat, every color and every physical flourish speaks to a greater message. Where years ago the story of dance could only be told with a body, the Berkeley Dance Project (running until April 29) confirms there’s more to the art in our technological age.

Modernity greets the audience before the show even begins. As soon as an audience member finds a seat, they’ll notice a very different sort of preshow, one that initially seems more appropriate at a science fair than in Zellerbach Playhouse. Dancer Meredith Slater delivers a cool, soothing monologue about tele-immersion technology as the image of another dancer is re-created on a mid-stage screen. The onscreen dancer is being recorded in the Hearst Mining Building, but can interact with the dancers in Zellerbach as a result of various feeds and connections. As the ensemble engages the dancer in another room, it is clear that human connection is still the paramount function of dance.

This human connection is poignantly present in “The Reception,” choreographer and director Lisa Wymore’s piece. A young man, played by Kyle John Orf, muses about presence and absence. He activates the spectators by asking them to touch the person next to them, just to make sure they’re there.

With this simple suggestion, “The Reception” becomes more than just dance or theater. It’s an encouragement, an experience, an intervention. A number of technological stunts are used in this meditation, but the show’s final moment is a mix of spectacle and humanity that could induce tears. “The Reception” proves that no matter how many lights, screens and digitalizations are employed, art is beautiful and moving because it is human.

“Rose,” choreographed by Robert Moses, doesn’t make use of technical coordinators or computer engineers. Eight dancers are the only things present onstage. They move to classical music in flowing blue costumes, and they execute their choreography with precision, style and emotion. In the first part of the piece, Andrew Ward and Wayne Tai Lee cross the floor in a rhythmic, mechanical fashion. This angular motion evolves into a more organic kind of dance as the piece progresses and as the dancers begin to touch more frequently. Perhaps “Rose” is commenting on the idea of blossoming into maturity and forsaking old patterns and rituals, but visual tales never have simple plots. The piece concludes as the dancers recede back into their rhythmic, jagged movements, a robotic state of nature.

The final work in the Berkeley Dance Project is “Flat Affect,” choreographed by Ellis Woods. The piece has a strong political message, which is partially relayed in the program, but “Flat Affect” feels facile in comparison to the complex, nuanced visual dialogues that precede it. The dancers are gorgeously capable in the piece, but there is more telling than showing on the part of the choreographer. The audience is left with bleakness on a white mat, which is a stark and saddening contrast to the richness of the evening’s earlier performances.

And the richness of this year’s Berkeley Dance Project is unmatched. There are fascinating technological devices, interesting, if misguided, bits of political commentary and brilliant, capable artists working in all areas of the production.

So dance isn’t what it used to be, but with depth and subtlety, the Berkeley Dance Project proves this artistic evolution is definitely for the best.

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