Monger brings choreographer Barak Marshall to Jacob’s Pillow, and is another example of why this long-standing dance festival is
at the top of the list
Marshall’s vision is unique and happily eclectic. His 10-member company of dancers inhabits the music and the strong physical style imposed on them as though the process of creation has been wholly organic. Ranging from sentimental tunes of the 20’s and 30’s to music far less immediate and recognizable, the changing tones and rhythms drive the 60-minute intermissionless piece along. The engine is Marshall’s singular insistence on propulsion and full-body engagement. Hands undulate as often as they jab, and torsos bend and collapse without ever surrendering to positions of peace and rest. In Monger, the dancers never appear to be following anyone’s lead or direction. Rather, their path is consistently even and each of the dancers walks (and dances) that path with abandon and strong personal presence.
The program notes include a brief description from “Le Nouvel Observateur”. Though I read these notes prior to seeing the work itself, I might have fared better saving the reading until afterward, if only because the analysis of the piece, the “story” of the dance, was no more apparent for having done the reading.
The performance I attended was followed by a discussion between Barak Marshall and the Pillow’s scholar-in-residence, Maura Keefe, and it was among the best of these post-performance discussions that I have attended. The audience’s questions were intelligent and clearly inspired by the work that preceded the conversation. Of note was Marshall’s repeated statement that he was not of the dance world or, perhaps more accurately, that his career hadn’t begun with dance. Greater explanation of what this means in relation to his body of work would have been extremely helpful, I think, but his strong sense of himself and his cultural roots helped a great deal in connecting what we had seen with what he chose to share with those of us who remained to listen.