Definition of Time - a brave attempt

Time is a slippery thing to define. A person will try to define time in itself, but will really only define the process of being in it. Time is now. Time is now. Time is now. Time is a succession of moments consciously experienced, or, in the case of Iris Lau and Elliot Vaughan’s dance/performance piece Definition of Time, time is an overwhelming idea that we chase in hopes of outrunning our own mortality. 

Not that it isn’t a noble pursuit. In its purest abstract, a piece of dance exists outside the stream of time; its choreography is a testimony to a moment, whatever that moment might be. But a piece like Definition of Time tries to testify to too much, and so; it betrays its own limitations. The performers, though capable of wonderful things, are still in adolescent bodies. Yes, we can be interested in what twenty-somethings have to express about “time”, but only if they stay true to their own experiences. What I found in this piece was a strange attraction to the the big, the grand, the generalized.

Redemption comes in smaller moments: Elysse Cheadle deftly moving and speaking gibberish around the duo of Marc Arboleda and Shannon Lee, Carmine Santavenere lying stock still recounting the presence of a lover while an animated pas de deux takes place behind him. The moments are isolated, but true, effective.

Also effective is Elliot Vaughan’s work as composer. Someone get that guy an assistant so he doesn’t need to multi-task so much. Or is biting off more than they can chew this company’s shtick?

Seriously, though. It took a lot of guts to do this number. Thank you to the performers for
delivering it.