The instructions for Terry Riley’s 1964 composition “In C” were pretty straightforward. The one-page track consists of 53 short musical motifs, played in sequence by the musicians. But since each musician chooses the number of repetitions of each number before moving on to the next, there is a constant change in alignment and transposition. That, combined with the relentless, rhythmic ticking of C, creates tension between staying in place and moving on. It was the sound of collective decision-making, a kind of harmony, noisier hive than a noisy town hall meeting.
To translate all this into dance, like German choreographer Sasha Waltz, is also quite simple. For “In C,” which Sasha Waltz & Guests brought to the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Thursday, Waltz devised 53 dance phrases, one that matched each of Riley’s motifs and that of her 14 dancers. She is free to choose. For about an hour, Bang on a Can All-Stars played Riley’s composition, professionally, on one side of the stage while the dancers did the same things on it.
The added dimension is not just the image. It is a space with a different distribution of bodies, sometimes spilling over into the wings with dancers interweaving among the musicians. The musical game of the individual and the collective is recreated, as the dancers constantly change allegiance, quickly beginning to synchronize with each other in groups ranging from pairs to entire groups. You can see the decisions happen. In a group repeating a phrase in unison, one dancer froze; when the others return to the point where she froze, she rejoins them. But the overall look is a whirlpool of action painting.
It’s also on the fun side of serenity. Olaf Danilsen’s lighting covers the stage and backdrop in sherbet or sorbet colors. These shifting colors are stronger than the slight harmonic movement of Riley’s score, but they don’t push the production away from the C key.
Dance phrases also hover in the slightly loose zone. There are some contrasting jerks or shakes to capture the beats, but a phrase shape prevails, elastically stretching in the middle and closing in a truncated fashion, as when a fist is raised to pull the rope of the train’s whistle. There’s enough variation – floor work, minimal physical contact – but there’s only a little that stands out. The action is instantly absorbing and easy to adjust.
At its best, the dance spatializes the suspension or tapestry of time. At any moment, some dancers, repeating a phrase, are showing where we have been, while early adopters of the next phrase are offering glimpses into the future. The memory here is overlapping but only short term. The sequence of phrases repeated in one direction, and very few of them remained in the mind.
Of course, the viewer’s memory includes more than just this dance. I think about Trisha Brown’s “Set and Reset”, recently hit the Brooklyn Academy stage in the Candoco Dance Company adaptation. With its relaxed flow and abrupt line-up, Waltz’s “In C” was clearly influenced by “Set and Reset,” like the ping in Laurie Anderson’s score for that dance stemming from the beat. of “In C.” by Riley. But to remember “Put and Reset” is to remember how the play of loose and tight and individual and group play can be much more enjoyable.
In a recent interview, Waltz explained the practical ways in which “In C” is a dance fit for the pandemic. Initially, dancers could learn phrases in isolation, and now, if someone tests positive, a performance doesn’t need to be cancelled.
But there’s also something about the dance that, in its structure and tone, matches the recent phases of pandemic life among the lucky: How it keeps changing while that C continues Continuously resounding, the feeling of time pushing forward even when it is still standing, needs cheerful colors. For better and for worse, it’s a leap of the moment.
Sasha Waltz & guests
Come Saturday at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; bam.org.
