Mass Movement Dance, Brighton, MA.
July 14, 2025.
“We’re getting into a brand new period and pushing additional than we ever have earlier than,” affirmed Creative Director Dana Alsamsam, talking to the corporate’s latest rebranding: previously Nozama Dance Collective, now Novum Dance Collective. N2 continues into this new period, with this program because the fifth annual.
Alsamsam additionally famous how this intimate exhibiting is at all times thrilling as a result of it’s an opportunity to actually invite viewers members in, “it doesn’t matter what your relationship to bop is.” N2, as an idea, even appears like an invite into how these works develop; Alsamsam defined what number of works listed below are “in course of”, and shall be proven within the firm’s December 2025 exhibiting.
As one other a part of that invitation, every choreographer obtained an opportunity to talk earlier than their work, providing context and anything they could wish to share. Together with dancers ingesting water and their ready within the wings being seen, these sharings appeared like a dropping of the “mystique” — the thriller and separation between artists and viewers. New identify, similar human vulnerability and openness – to not point out ferocity and rigor throughout the work itself…I used to be invested from the beginning.
That begin was an excerpt from Jami Adam’s Amore Mio – My Love. She described it as “rooted in reminiscence and connection”, providing an informal and lighthearted high quality – and it felt similar to that, superbly so. The work’s inspiration lay within the Italian music enjoying in her childhood house, one thing that carries by to her present life along with her associate, she shared.
Motion started with easy stepping patterns, however developed rapidly into athleticism of leaps and subtleties of undulating spines. The Italian music rating (Guaglione from Aurelio Fierro), in addition to the dancers’ purple skirts, contributed to the work’s healthful really feel. Playful gestures and hip rolls added light-hearted sweetness. I felt the presence of that Italian zest for good laughs, good meals, good life – I can say as a second era Italian-American. It could be an Olive Backyard tagline, but it surely actually is true: whenever you’re right here, you’re household. That zestful power escalated to dancers transferring in quick curricular patterns till they finally fell to the bottom, the work finito.
Madison Florence’s compelling and evocative From the Backside of My Breath (its world premiere right here) paralleled the breath cycle with calm, rage and sorrow. She described experiencing these feelings in a cycle of its personal, and inspired viewers members to return alongside that journey as effectively. Deep, audible exhales evoked the calm of the opening. Repeated gestures, and actions out and in of a held plank, embodied the even and rhythmic high quality of calm respiration. Dancers rose to greater ranges, including visible variance – but concord continued resonating by their formations, timing and shaping. Their smooth, but assured motion high quality felt meditative.
Calm moved into rage with an abrupt shift: runs, screams, expansive and muscular actions, pounding drums within the rating. In formation, the ensemble rocked their weight backwards and forwards from foot to foot – a defensive posture. Different dancers, nonetheless, broke away into different vocabulary; anger, like several emotion, can have many layers to it – and a few of these layers could be wayward.
Falling to the ground with tears signaled the approaching of sorrow. Motion gave the impression to be looking for, looking, stressed and rootless. One might not count on that of unhappiness, however there could be an urgency to it, of looking for a manner out of the expertise or at the very least perceive it higher. Motion from the primary part implied a cycle – and, similar to respiration, feelings can definitely be that. Certainly, the ensemble completed within the opening tableau. In all of those methods, the work was a eager and considerate visceral depiction of how we expertise these feelings.
Juliana Willey-Thomas’ Love in Time supplied one in every of 5 elements within the full work-in-progress, a touching and tender solo danced by Alsamsam. The complete work portrays love at completely different levels of the lifespan, and this part appeared to depict the candy innocence of teenage love. On this piece particularly, I appreciated the informal manufacturing values of this intimate, low-key exhibiting; her dancing shadow on the light-colored again wall at instances entranced me. Her tutu had me considering of a younger woman craving to be a ballerina, even whereas – her additionally utilizing a dial-up telephone prop – she was sufficiently old to be having fun with lengthy giggly telephone calls with faculty buddies.
Alsamsam danced with a breezily expansive high quality, letting the motion resonate and lengthen by her. Her musicality was additionally very good, easily tangoing with the rhythms and textures of the pop R&B tunes (Rickey Nelson’s “Teenager’s Romance” and Aretha Franklin’s “Don’t Say You’re Sorry Once more”).
Together with that concord and tenderness was turbulence, nonetheless; hard-hitting gestures and the resignation of falling to the ground made visceral the storms and rising pains of youth. Alsamsam’s persona walked off with the telephone, very a lot not letting it go – how “teenager” of her! I very a lot sit up for seeing the opposite 4 elements; I’m fairly to see how qualities, themes, et cetera will carry by in addition to differ.
An excerpt from Alsamsam’s daring and memorable Work in Progress DYSTOPIC closed the present, which I reviewed – with nice pleasure – in July of 2024. Alsamsan defined the idea of the work’s two opposing teams as an underground resistance and people imposing dystopia. Listening to that, I used to be fascinated to see how that data may alter my expertise of the work.
I consider that I noticed the identical spatial pressure, clear opposition and kinetic readability that I noticed the primary time – which speaks effectively of the work, I feel, in its clear conveying of feeling and theme if not a selected narrative. Context round a piece can enrich and develop how one engages with it, but – on this humble author’s opinion – it doesn’t want to.
This system finally closed with every dancer having their very own bow and Alsamsam calling them every by identify – not one thing I’ve seen earlier than, I don’t assume. Given how dancers can really feel like instruments in a bigger imaginative and prescient, moderately than their very own distinct and self-determining people, that warmed my coronary heart. Arts organizations start, change, even (sadly) generally finish – artists stay. I eagerly await what these gifted and dedicated ones will share subsequent.
By Kathryn Boland of Dance Informa.
