BODYTRAFFIC: This Reminds Me of You
The Joyce Theater, NYC
April 15 -20, 2025
BODYTRAFFIC is a Los Angeles-based dance company, and their current production, This Reminds Me of You, is a spectacular, over-the-top dance experience. Period. By turns exhilarating, poignant, intriguing, surprising, and captivating, it consists of three sequences created by the most innovative choreographers imaginable. Performed by eight dancers, their energy, presence, and finely-honed artistry inspires nothing less than continuous wide-eyed amazement. Each sequence generated the kind of rich wonderment for which audiences yearn.
The initial dance, "Mayday," includes the timeless music of Buddy Holly and explores how life might be cut short at any moment–and how we carry on regardless, as if "tomorrow" is guaranteed (while knowing full well we never possess such certainty). Throughout this dance, a bright red model airplane is prominently carried and handed off from dancer to dancer, always remaining aloft. Each Buddy Holly song has its own "dance," the choreography is decidedly on the athletic side, including marvelous solos and beautifully crafted ensemble work, concluding with a wistful note. "Mayday" was created by multiple award-winning choreographer Trey McIntyre, who founded his dance company, the Trey McIntyre Project, in Boise, Idaho.
next sequence, "I Forgot the Start," is choreographed by Matthew Neenan, whom the New York Times called "one of America's best dance poets." In a video, Mr. Neenan said this work is about our mental acuity, our mental awareness, self-love, self-discovery, and those arduous times in life when we struggle with just how we're going to hang on. "I Forgot the Start" takes place in an otherworldly atmosphere, in which the dancers are attired in loosely fitting diaphanous costumes designed by Márion Tálon de la Rosa. Above the bare stage is a huge rectangular screen with projected greenery, nature, sky, mountains, etc. The movements are slow and meditative and are accompanied by a fittingly dreamy soundtrack, which includes "In this Heart" by Sinéad O'Connor and "Paka Ua" by Ozzie Kotani and Daniel Ho. "I Forgot the Start" concludes as two male dancers remove their shirts and slowly commence an intimate dance, barely touching one another as they move to the sound of "Flint" by Sufjan Stevens. It seemed as though the audience almost stopped breathing at this point, moved to stillness by the penetrating presence exuded by this exquisite pair of dancers.
The concluding dance, "Incense Burning On A Saturday Morning: The Maestro," was created by choreographer Juel D. Lane, who found his inspiration for this sequence in the artwork of former football player Earnie Barnes. [You may recall the television show Good Times, in which the character J.J. Evans was a painter—but his paintings were actually the work of Earnie Barnes.] This sequence transforms the soul of Mr. Barnes' paintings into dance and is the most technically intricate piece in this dance concert. The entire performance is viewed through a scrim, onto which are projected brush strokes, views of Mr. Barnes' paintings, video clips, and still photos. It starts with black/grey brush strokes, with a male dancer in semi-darkness sitting on a stool with his back to the audience, engaged in painting. The wave of his brush strokes, or their erasure, is projected on the scrim as he moves his hand. The scene progresses with the whole dance company joining in, driven by the sound of intense percussion-driven Afro-Cuban music. The images on the scrim create an arch over the dancers, isolating them from the whole stage, and there are moments when the arch gets larger or smaller as the scrim projections evolve.
The costume designer for this sequence is Jarrod Barnes, loosely basing the dancers' attire on the outfits worn by characters in Barnes' paintings.
One of the key characters in the paintings is known as "the woman in the yellow dress." She comes to life on the stage—and I do mean life as she gyrates wildly to the pounding beat and is joined by the ensemble, giving the audience a high-powered, jubilant conclusion to this sequence and the entire evening's performances.
As an audience member, I have reached the point of ceasing to desire to be merely entertained. Instead, I want to be moved by what I witness, to possess a greater sense of our humanity and the possibility of compassion for others, all while seeking other merits that authentic art generates and bestows on an audience. The entirety of This Reminds Me of You is emphatically such an inspirational miracle.
It is appropriate to name and honor by name each of the dedicated, dynamic dancers who appear in This Reminds Me of You: Chandler Davidson, Donnie Duncan, Jr., Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Anaya Gonzalez, Alana Jones, Joan Rodriguez, and Jordyn Santiago.
I further acknowledge and thank all the lighting designers, the costume constructionist, musicians, singers, videographers, those up in the "the booth," and of course, Tina Finkelman Berkett, co-founder of BODYTRAFFIC.