Megan Lowe (left) and Brenton Cheng (right). Photo by RJ Muna. Image description: A male and female dancer jump into the air. Their hands are connected together by finger traps, limbs overlapping like a puzzle.
The Weight of Shadows with Megan Lowe Dances
By Garth Grimball
Tangram is a dissection puzzle. Seven polygons, or tans, form shapes and silhouettes like a cat or a house or a human in motion. Unlike the snug fit of a jigsaw puzzle, tans are always free to dissect and reform.
“Tangram,” a premiere from Megan Lowe Dances, features Lowe and collaborator Brenton Cheng dissecting space with weight and light. The dance “uses physical puzzles to explore relationship, geometry, and their shared Chinese heritage.” Lowe and Cheng met while attending contact improvisation jams. In 2019, they created “Finger Trap,” followed by “Maw Jaw,” a dance film that shares the bill of MLD’s performances at Joe Goode Annex, December 9-12.
On Thursday, December 2, I attended a rehearsal of “Tangram” and spoke with Lowe and Cheng. The duo shared the first half of the work. It opens with Cheng center stage moving through a series of gestures. Upstage left Lowe responds in kind before the two join in an ever-evolving weight share of tumbles, tricks, and triumphs. Eye contact is rare. They connect through the visceral awareness of the other’s center. “I want to avoid reading as romantic,” said Lowe, “the strength of the two of us” is the text.
I’ve seen many performances at Joe Goode Annex. Lowe and Cheng surprised me in their creative use of the space - no spoilers. They think of choreographing as puzzle making. Every movement is an opportunity to test a limit or find a new task. It is this sense of building that distinguishes their flow of weight from the Rube Goldberg device style of partnering. Their lifts and drops don’t assemble like a chain of inevitability. Every moment of contact has the weight of a choice.
The physicality of relationships and geometry is evident. How does sharing weight connect with sharing heritage? “I’m not just carrying Megan,” said Cheng, “I’m carrying Megan and her heritage. We are carrying heritage.” Like Tangrams, “we are shapes but have history.”
Buy Tickets for Megan Lowe Dances “Tangram” at Joe Goode Annex, December 9-12 here.
Garth Grimball is a dance writer and artist based in Oakland, CA. He hosts the Reference Desk podcast and is the co-director of Wax Poet(s) performance collective.
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