PERPETUAL MOTION
FILLS THE HOUSE
TO A STANDING O

By Nancy Condit

Perpetual Motion Dance's "Water Won't Wait" played to a full house Friday evening, justly ending with a standing ovation. Special guests were the fresNO Dance COllective from California. The performance at the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center, formerly the City Arts Center. Performances continue Saturday, May 18th at 8 pm and Sunday, May 19th at 4 pm. Tickets from $18 for adults, to $10 for students/seniors and $8 for children can be purchased at the door or at  www.perpetualmotiondance.org.

Perpetual Motion also collaborated with film maker K. Edward Van Osdol in the jaw droppingly terrifying  Aqueous II , as four dancers hung from and performed on top of two horizontally hung ladders, trying to hold on, grasping, catching with a leg, until they couldn't hold on any longer. The film was shown upside down, with the dancers' hair streaming up. One by one they fell down into the clouds that billowed around them.

fresNo Dance COllective, founded in 2010 by director Amy Querin, performed a very lyrical work Soft as Animal, choreographed by Querin, with contributions by Dana Budd, Hannah Cavallaro, Alyssa Garvin and Spencer Ruell. Taking place in a forest, with an opening film projected on the backdrop, the dancers performed on the stage and two sets of white silks, with their work on silks most eye catching. Alejandra Arguello, a bird in a black leotard with a short white skirt of feathers, many of which were left on the stage, was very impressive on the silks, at one point turning herself inside out on one silk. Music was by Evpatoria Report, Polmo Polpo, Sigur Ros, Jonsi, and Explosions in the Sky. Spoken words and the poetry were by Ryan O'Neal, which ended with "We will find new ways to settle, Tipping scales from the killer to its prey. I can feel the weight around us, Climbing every rib inside us, A sanctuary in a lion's mouth."

Company members also included Jackie Aldern, Hannah Cavallaro, Amy Querin and Britney Reyes.

 Fresno Dance Collective (NOCO) is  a non-profit organization founded to help produce Fresno dance artists and companies, develop emerging dance talent, and enrich the arts in the Fresno metropolitan area by fostering collaboration and embracing diversity.

Michelle Moeller, director of Perpetual Motion wrote of Water Won't Wait, "We are working from a metaphor of time and change. Going with a current versus resisting a current."

Perpetual Motion performed seven dances, all of them polished pieces that dealt with qualities of water and its continued passing once it started flowing. One of the most arresting images was in Aqueous I, with film and score by Van Osdol, as one of the two dancers in long black dresses fell over in her back. The other dancer bent over the unresponsive one and took handfuls of water from her midsection. Then positions reversed, and the other dancer drank from her. Both got up and left refreshed.

Where Time Stands Still, choreographed by Kim Kieffer, music by Jody Redhange, had two dancers on the same silks, first one, then the other climbed up, working mostly in splits, while the other two dancers worked the stage, flat on it and standing. The dance ended as the stage dancers took silks of their own and swung around the center two. Kim Kieffer, areial arts director, built all of the metal apparatus.

The final piece, Clockwise, choreographed by Moeller and Kieffer to music by Jody Redhange, featured an aerial pyramid with a wooden wedge letting sand run out of it while the company performed on the stage below it, ending with one dancer upside down with legs split to receive the sand, but it had run out.

Kim Kieffer, aerial arts director, built all of the metal apparatus.

Company members also included Maria Krey, Alana Murray, Amy Nevius and Leah Watson.

Fault Line, choreographed by Amy Nevius with music by Mount Kimbie was an angular piece nicely done by PM2 junior company members Lauren Carter, Ali Lane, Erin Melton, Bailee Ryan and Brett Ward.