In recent years, Jess Curtis has provided one of the most consistent voices for artistic experimentation in the Bay Area. His experiences as a dance artist in Europe have emboldened his artistic investigations, and he frequently uses deconstruction to choreographically examine his thematic material. Curtis recently premiered a new work at CounterPulse called Under the Radar. The new piece was jointly developed in both Berlin and San Francisco.
Under the Radar uses several performers whom Curtis worked with last year, including Claire Cunningham from the UK and Jorg Muller from Germany. The piece features a cast of multi-abled dancers, and raises a series of questions about virtuosity, the definitions of performance, and how to create community-based work that is open to critical debate.
For the most part, Curtis is successful in regards to the level of professionalism in the production. Community-based art-making has gotten a bad rap in recent years, and finding criteria to evaluate the work is problematic. Are the artist's good intentions sufficient for an audience member to spend money on a full-priced ticket? In Curtis' case, he creates a rigorous investigation that asks some important questions, and he's not content to just skim the surface.
Under the Radar unfolds in a very informal manner, with the choreographer interacting casually with the audience. The concessions bar is actually on stage, so the fourth wall is partially broken. There's also a comfortable-looking sofa that the dancers use to rest during the performance. The piece opens with the house band playing (the performers double as both musicians and dancers), and dancer Kaz Langley in a wheelchair, performing a solo. What is partially relevant is that Langley has cerebral palsy; Curtis incorporates her involuntary movements as part of the choreographic material. There's a profound beauty and dignity in the way Langley moves, manipulating her wheelchair and demonstrating a wide range of movement. For a period, we are in Langley's world, and we stop seeing her as "handicapped."
The rest of the performance is loosely structured as a cabaret, with each group of artists performing a vignette that relates to the abled/disabled theme. As studies, most of them are successful, but they're not fully integrated. Curtis jumps from one idea to the next, and doesn't seem to fully understand how they relate to each other. Deconstruction is the perfect framework: the parts do not need to be part of a whole, but then you must acknowledge that the audience might not follow. Curtis has a message: every person has a skill and a certain kind of virtuosity. He needs to find a solid thread to connect his ideas into a more cohesive whole.
Under the Radar is long. The second half could use some editing, venturing into a couple of tangents that do not seem to relate to the rest of the piece. The cabaret format works to create a structure, but the long transitions stall the piece. Curtis has assembled a group of artists that bring a lot of material to the table but not every idea is a good one. Curtis needs to develop an outside eye that can differentiate between what works conceptually and what translates into performance. His piece has a powerful arc, but by its conclusion, the audience is exhausted.
Overall, Curtis is still one of the Bay Area's most innovative dance directors, and this material deserves to be seen. Under the Radar runs for three weeks, so it's possible that it will tighten up. It's encouraging that CounterPulse is supporting a local artist who is dedicated to this kind of investigation.
Jess Curtis/Gravity presents Under the Radar at CounterPulse, 1310 Mission St., SF. Wed.-Sun., March 22–April 1. Tickets ($15-$30): www.counterpulse.org.