dendy/donovan projects

DREAM ANALYSIS (1998)
The Joyce Theater, NYC / Nextmove Festival, Annanberg Theater, Philadelphia, PA / Presented by and at Dance Theater Workshop, 219 W. 19th St., NYC, August 27-30, September 1-6, 8-12.

"In "Dream Analysis," presented at Dance Theater Workshop, choreographer Mark Dendy offers a revised version of his autobiographical extravaganza shown last season at the Joyce.

Every sound and image is intelligently chosen, meticulously prepared, theatrically timed, and exquisitely presented. Using expert vocal mimicry and a shortening re-alignment of his spine and shoulders, Dendy emulates Graham with eerie perfection. Rather than laboring through the obvious, angst-ridden contractions when satirizing Graham's choreography, the company finds subtle parody in carefully tent-shaped hands, conversations punctuated by falls and "sparkles," and graceful triplet-ing exits.

As his story unfolds, Dendy reveals a remarkable range of dramatic technique, creating a comic characterization of his holy-roller mother, and delivering a frighteningly realistic monologue as Nijinsky going mad. The work climaxes in an explosive ensemble dance in which the disparate psychological and physical elements of the memoir imaginatively amalgamate.

Then, in a surprising gesture of extreme generosity Dendy offers a bonus, an epilogue in which, to "Pr lude à l'apr's-midi d'un faune," he and Keigwin dance a kinesthetic masterwork, pushing the limits of their physicality in an ingeniously derivative duet that Dendy-izes the famous faun's frolic."