Comfort Breaks Hip-Hop Boundaries

Author: Sean Hoskins

The signs at the entrance to the Flynn Center's main stage Friday night read, "There will be a strobe light and a gunshot in the performance." The warnings were just the first indication of what was to come.

Confrontational lighting effects and audio sounds marked this risky performance of "Asphalt," the latest "boundary-breaking" production from choreographer Jane Comfort. Unfortunately, although the performance had moments of choreographic and musical brilliance, overall the piece erred too much on the side of safety.

"Asphalt" tells the story of Racine, an abandoned child turned homeless disc jockey who finds a home inside the rhythms he spins, transcending his haunting reality at the rave. While spinning one night he meets Couchette, who guides Racine through an empty warehouse where he encounters the spirits of his ancestors as his long-forgotten past is revealed to him one room at a time. Comfort describes Couchette's character as a Virgil-like figure from Dante's "Inferno." Everything about Racine, right down to his name, which means "root" in French, was linked to his search for his ancestry.

The piece was a synthesis of a somewhat biographical short story by Carl Hancock Rux, Comfort's choreography and hip-hop music that maestro DJ Spooky terms "illbient," a play on its ambient roots. Before and after the performance Comfort spoke about the difficulty posed by the piece's hybridized nature.

She received pages of the script from the playwright and the negotiation process began. The collaborators shared the goal that the production's multiple layers, including text, music and movement, should end up on equal footing.

When creating the movement component, Comfort sought to find a "physical metaphor to fit each scene." This was quite successful at times. As the first rave scene drew to a close, Couchette approached Racine for the first time. They began talking and immediately fell into syncronized gestural movement. The material became richer as the dialogue unfolded, the dancers falling in and out of harmony as they attempted to find a common rhythm.

Comfort explained that each piece she does calls for a different movement vocabulary and, as a result, preparation included tango lessons, tap classes and forays into martial arts. It was Rux's wish to stay out of the world of hip-hop, a culture too established to leave room for the story line to be heard. This required Comfort and her company to develop an original vocabulary out of the movements they used socially in nightclubs. Their movement also drew inspiration from African dance. The effect was refreshing, yet not as dynamic and full-bodied as the music seemed to demand.

The choreography also often undercut the raw nature of the visual landscapes and urban themes that the words established.

Save for an emotionally rich monologue delivered by Racine's uncle Eddie, "Asphalt" seemed to bring the audience to the edge but then retreat. This was perhaps the result of over-collaboration. Excessive compromising diluted the performance's potential.

Jane Comfort and her company have already begun work on an adaptation of the myth of Persephone, which they will perfect this summer at the Bates Dance Festival. More information on Comfort can be found on the Web site www.janecomfortandcompany.org.