The George Piper Dances, or “Ballet Boyz,” attempted
to push the boundaries of ballet and contemporary dance this past
weekend at Royce Hall. Known for their reality-TV-like clips
projected in-between dance moves, the Boyz fed the public’s
obsession with seeing celebrities at their most human
level.Â
Whether it was the company’s founders falling on their
backs trying to master a piece of choreography, consistently
getting lost looking for the theater at each stop on their tour, or
practicing arm positions in the bathtub, the audience relished
every chance to laugh.
Though the videos were humorous, it is less clear whether or not
they fulfilled their purpose in making the dance more accessible to
the audience.
The clips showed the difficulty in learning complex
choreography, and brought out the playful personalities of the
dancers, but didn’t lend to helping the audience understand
the depth of what the artists were trying to achieve through their
work.
The program consisted of three individual dances, with the first
piece choreographed by the prestigious William Forsythe.
The show opened like “Rent,” with the
performance’s beginning beingis signaled by a dancer walking
casually onstage, but with the house lights remaining aglow. He
begins to dance, not to music, but in silence except for the sound
of patrons shuffling to their seats.
Throughout the piece, the dancers repeated one specific hand
motion, and exited the stage abruptly in the same way the piece
began. The two female dancers of the total five in the company
exhibited a tremendous amount of flexibility interacting in the
dimly lit space as they executed turns with grace and precision.
The lithe women were not the focus however, as the last piece
involved only two dancers, both male.
The two founders of the company, William Trevitt and Michael
Nunn, replaced the traditional female and male pair as they
performed physically challenging choreography to finish off the
night. When Nunn and Trevitt came to take their bow
Friday night, only a few standing ovations were peppered throughout
the orchestra.
The majority of the audience stood only after the second
time they came to take a bow, perhaps still confused about what to
make of the performance. It appears that maybe the audience didn’t
get the piece, or at least not immediately, despite the video
commentary that was suppossed to invite the audience inside their
world.