Tonight the Hopkins Center is going to sizzle with the arrival of the innovative Bebe Miller Dance Company, a New York troupe that is pushing the boundaries of modern dance and the music of Don Byron, a world renowned jazz clarinetist.
The Bebe Miller Dance Company was founded by the choreographer in 1985. Since its inception the company has been the medium by which Miller has explored the unruly edges of the human heart and psyche. In her explorations Miller has created numerous works that are the physical language for the human condition. Her most recent exploration of the human heart, "Going to the Wall" will be shown in a world premiere in Hanover this Friday at 8:00 p.m. in the Moore Theater.
As one of America's most innovative dance choreographers, Miller has pushed the boundaries of her field by fusing dance with many unlikely musical candidates and issues. Miller's style of choreography is a style that seeks to express things at the level of the individual and relationships. She does not seek to ground herself in the literal.
By exploring the basic level of the individual, Miller has used a variety of motifs. In her 1996 work, "Blessed," Miller used an Australian a cappella group that was devoted to African-American, traditional gospel music. Jimi Hendrix's brilliant guitar music was used in "The Jimi Hendrix Project," which premiered in 1991. The heat of Hendrix's music combined with the movement of the dancers was described by the Village Voice as a piece that, "mixed the heat of Hendrix's music with the mood of his days."
Another work, "Tiny Sisters in an Enormous Land" was inspired by the story of the "Silent Twins," two girls who grew up in an isolated rural area of England who communicated silently and only with each other.
In the tradition of these prior works, Miller's most recent work, "Going to the Wall," is a piece rich in meaning and discourse. It is a work whose roots come from an exercise that divides a group based upon shared truths and a recognition of the differences that divide the group. Concepts of race, gender and experience are broken down and examined by the dancers who use the tools of self definition to cut to the heart of what defines oneself and how one relates in the world. The title, "Going to the Wall," is itself a metaphor for the action the dancers display, of cutting through the layers that define until the final moment of revelation.
The revelations and the skillful interplay of contemporary music that Bebe Miller treats her audience to through her dance troupe makes the performance at the Hopkins Center this Friday worth seeing.
