Who’s your CRUSH?
By Garth Grimball
Molly Rose-Williams has a crush on you.
CRUSH, an evening-length solo choreographed and performed by Rose-Williams, opened January 19 at NOHSpace. The work is an evolution of We Are All Friends that premiered in 2022. Both works are concerned with the awkwardness, the beauty, the all-consuming, fully debilitating thrill of having a crush.
CRUSH begins with Rose-Williams creeping onto the stage, a reluctant but overwhelmed presence. She emits guttural noises and exhalations matched in quality by gestures and postures. With courage she makes eye contact with the audience. Abstract hands become a steady point back and forth between her and the object of her affection. On Friday night it was a woman seated in the front row.
“I have a crush on you.”
After much anguish the 6 words are released from her body. CRUSH becomes full tilt dance theater once its namesake emotion is articulated. Rose-Williams shares a diffuse, tangential monologue, inhabiting multiple characters, embodying emotions, hands, or a balloon.
The fourth wall breaking is critical to CRUSH’s success. Balloons are tossed into the audience in a peak of celebration. The audience is asked to raise a hand if you’ve ever had a crush, and to shimmy if you’ve been in love. The energy transfer between performer and audience is most alive when Rose-Williams plays with how much of herself she exposes to us. She expertly switches between flirting and withholding, between confessing and listening. The relational tension fuels the momentum of the work.
The dancing exists to support and heighten the language. Both are delivered with the rhythmic certainty of a metronome with Rose-Williams playing in the in-between spaces, before weight drops, after a word is spoken, or within the laughter of the audience.
Rose-Williams moves with her full body whether it’s a slide across the floor or a simple gesture. At one point she sits crumpled against the back wall facing the audience. Her hands pantomime sexual intercourse, abstractly, without any of the usual gestures. CRUSH explores coupling from many perspectives, all slightly askew, making the common peculiar and the spectacular as intimate telling someone you like them.
CRUSH
Jan 19-21 & 25-27 @ 7:30p
NOHSpace, 2840 Mariposa St., San Francisco
Tickets $10-40 NOTA at www.mollyrosewilliams.ticketspice.com/crush
Garth Grimball is a dance writer and artist based in Oakland, CA. He is a contributor to SF Examiner and Dance Media. He is the editor of ODC’s Dance Stories.
-----
Related post:
Five Questions for Molly Rose-Williams about "CRUSH"
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.