Marjani Forte – A Strong Finish!

St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery is historical, and for the most part, one knows what to expect when they walk through those doors.  However, walking into the church for Marjanie Forte’s being Here, a dance event, even before the “performance” begins, we experience a piece of art; a brilliantly reconfigured space.  Three large plastic panels (almost ceiling to floor), crinkled with lace-like holes that are lit from behind and reflect on the ceiling and the back wall (the pulpit) like wings, command the space.  Plus, just in front of the audience is an oversized pillow hollowed in the center and filled with feathers.  The set is by Johann Mittnacht and the lighting is by longtime Danspace Project designer Carol Mullins.  The atmosphere is perfectly framed by composer Everett Saunders’ many sounds. Forte’s dance described as “…a work that narrates a journey towards Mental Health and Addiction Recovery…” soon begins. Built as a lineup of sections (“At First…”, “Mind Fuck,” “Train,”
“Bottoming Out,” “Play Hard” and “being”), the strongest comes at the end in “being.”  For “being” Forte moves
full speed ahead and there was no holds barred.  The entire cast (Rebecca Bliss, Tendayi Kuumba, Jasmine Hearn, Autumn Scoggan, Alice Sheppard and Samantha Speis) are manically fantastic as they polish off Forte’s unceasing sequence with cannons, punctuated with a pumping of elbows and torso into uncontrollable jumps, when they join, replace, or leave the mesmerizing stream of movement from one side of the space to the other.  A strong finish indeed.