Kyle Johnson

Dance Criticism
Critique #1

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Ronald K. Brown/Evidence

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For their 30th Anniversary New York Season, the Joyce Theater hosted Evidence, A
Dance Company and had an evening featuring four pieces that were choreographed by Ronald K.
Brown. There are two separate programs that can be seen on different days, Program A and
Program B. I saw Program B which consisted of the four abstract pieces, Gatekeepers, Through
Time and Culture, One Shot, and Why You Follow/Por Que Sigues and lasted approximately two
hours long. The program featured nine dancers, among them were the founder and
choreographer, Ronald K. Brown, and the associate artistic director, Arcell Cabaug.
The initial piece, Gatekeepers, was created in 1999, featured six dancers, and was around
25 minutes long. This piece began with a blank proscenium stage with dim lighting and a black
background. The six dancers walk onto the stage wearing either a purple or a green jumpsuit.
The dancers all had bare feet and held blank expressions on their face. The music is difficult to
describe but perhaps is a fusion of techno and African. The dance itself was a fusion between
African dance and contemporary dance. The piece consisted of many dance solos while some of
the other dancers would stand on the sides watching. Dancers would also continue to walk on
and off the stage as different solos were happening. The dancers had expressionless faces but
would walk with a tall posture, had their hands clasped behind their back, and moved with a

strong and fast movement quality. The dance steps themselves consisted of many ballet moves
such as arabesques, attitudes, battements, and different types of leaps. These moves would often
lead into more African influenced movements which were often performed in a crouch with
strong arm movements. The arm movements would often move in large arc patterns around their
head or upper body. This type of arc pattern seemed to recur in all four pieces and either seemed
to be a movement motif or just a characteristic of the style of dance. About one third of the way
into the dance, the music stopped and a rain sound effect came on. It was at this moment that a
dancer first acknowledged another dancer by making eye contact. The dancer then went over and
placed his arm on the other dancer. Prior to this, none of the dancers had acknowledged the
existence of the other dancers and hadnt had any physical contact with each other. After these
two dancers left the stage, two more dancers entered onto the stage and also acknowledged each
other and made physical contact. After these two dancers exited there was no more
acknowledgment or physical contact again in the piece. The dance continued on as it had in the
beginning with solos or small groups of dancers performing as others stood and watched or
walked on and off the stage. At some point during this portion of the dance the background had
slowly turned red. Eventually the dancers all danced in unison, which had only occurred a few
times during the piece, and then slowly walked to the back of the stage. The piece then ended
with the dancers in a line across the stage, facing upstage, and looking over their shoulders
upstage left.
After viewing the piece I had no idea as to what the piece could be about. However, there
was a description of the dance in the program that I had decided not to read until after I had seen
the piece. According to the description, Gatekeepers portrays dancers as soldiers walking

toward heaven, searching for the wounded and looking out to make a safe haven for others to
follow. After reading the description only a few aspects of the piece made more sense to me.
The first being the jumpsuit costumes which had a very extraterrestrial appearance to them.
However, only two aspects of the movement seemed to support this description. One being the
way that the dancers walked on and off the stage since it was done in a way that a solider might
walk; tall posture, hands clasped behind them, and a strong and fast movement quality. The other
being the moment when some of the dancers acknowledged each other and made physical
contact. This could be the soldiers guiding the wounded towards heaven, as the description says.
However, nothing else in the movement really supports the given description. I dont believe that
I need to understand the purpose of every dance to consider it to be of good quality. However, the
majority of the movements seemed unmotivated by any purpose besides to perform dance steps.
The dancers all executed the piece very well but it was the choreographic vision that seemed
unclear and confused as to what it was trying to be. The four pieces in the program were trying to
use the culture of African dance but that aspect seemed misguided and confused in Gatekeepers.
The mix of African and contemporary ballet certainly made for interesting choreography and
worked well in the other three pieces but seemed purposeless in Gatekeepers. There were no
movement motifs that stuck out as important and none of the steps seemed to enhance the
message that the choreographer was trying to convey.