ADF Wally Cardona & Molly Lieber TIMES FOUR Review

Their start is ever so simple— a step, balance shifting to one leg, a 90 degree turn repeated, and repeated, and repeated again —until completing a full circle. A second sequence— now with knee raised and thrice repeated to make the 360 degree turn. A third iteration, now with a lunge, and again thrice repeated to cover the 360 degrees.

And so it continues for over an hour— keeping us glued to the growing complexity of high-precision tightly synchronized movements. From one knee bend it becomes multiple high knees; now a quick turn; now pivots motored by one straight leg leading the way; prostration as though praying to Allah; quickly breaking the spell of prayer poses with leg thrusts like graceful frogs; balance shifting to let gravity pull hips to floor or gracefully trip the dancers forward; hops; foot slides; slow motion running; larger kicks; bigger knees; leaps and faster leaps; a somewhat startling slap on one leg by the other leg’s foot… it continues, and continues…

Their gaze is never random or straying. When they start adding 45 degree head turns they remind of birds on the outer edges of a flock minding the airwaves for food or hazards. It’s as though they are tuned to music outside our mere mortal range of hearing. Later, when their gazes meet it’s almost too intense to bear. They are only two— but their micro-second precision is so exquisite that it has the same effect on us as a large ensemble filling an oversized stage when it moves as one.

You too may be reminded of the waxing intensity of Ravel’s Bolero. We won’t remember the ending; we will remember the hypnotizing layering of gestures ever ratcheting up our heartbeats and focus on the dancers and the dance.

American Dance Festival Updates Legacy Choreography of Early Modern Dance

We learn from the program notes and a handout penned by Cardona that explains how he reconstructed Times Four from the late choreographer David Gordon’s first iteration. Cardona and Lieber had to fill in the gaps from scribbled archival records and short film snippets of the earlier performance to flesh it out and make it theirs. In this reviewer’s opinion, Cardona’s update more than works. American Dance Festival could not have selected a better piece to help welcome us back into their yearly summer showcase of contemporary dance.