The glissando that Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” starts is a siren scream, an announcement of joy and chutzpah, which also means “I love New York City”. On Saturday night, when pianist Conrad Tao was playing it in the rotunda of the Guggenheim Museum, dancer Caleb Teicher came in and hugged Nathan Bugh, a fellow dancer, tightly.
That was fun and cute – really perfect, expressing the emotions of the moment. Because there we were, a live audience, masked and carefully distributed on the spiral path of the rotunda, and experienced live performances indoors. Spring is here! The pandemic is over! Everyone is hugging!
At least that’s what it felt like for a moment. The pandemic is of course not over yet. And while that performance by Caleb Teicher & Co. heralded the personal return of the Works & Process franchise – with additional performances slated through June by companies rehearsing upstate bubble residences – all of these arrangements are tentative. NY Pops Up performances by Teicher’s company that were scheduled for the same day have been canceled due to new protocols. The indoor performances planned for this week at Park Avenue Armory have been postponed as some performers tested positive for Covid-19.
Teicher and the gang also recognized this precariousness. The second time Tao’s fingers moved up to the high note, another pair of dancers stopped short of contact and decided on an elbow bump. This was fun too, but in retrospect, the big hug and elbow bump seemed to sum up an event that was both wonderful and not ideal.
It began like the last prepandemic Works & Process event, a Teicher show, ended in February 2020: Bugh made Lindy Hop alone to music in his head. Despite the response, this was an uncomfortable opening. And the following selection, a piano interlude – Brahms’ Intermezzo in E minor – felt a bit random, although Tao interrupted the time in ice-cold cascades of sound.
“Rhapsody in Blue” was the main event, and Tao’s rendition (of his own arrangement for solo piano) was monumental, as big as the building. It was too big for Teicher and the dancers to keep up, but their attitude towards putting on a show gave the effort the innocent charm of the “Peanuts” cartoon.
The rhythmic irregularity of “Rhapsody” is a choreographic challenge. Teicher hit it cleverly with solos, duets and group encounters, all with a story-like hint of collisions and rendezvous in the city. Based on Lindy’s vocabulary, the dance was comfortably arranged in circles and other shapes suitable for the rotunda and intended to be seen from above. At times, large, slow Charleston strides were excitingly set against the drive of the music, and several duets that flippantly ignored traditional gender roles aroused the tenderness and romance of the music.
It was also enchanting when Tao was preparing again towards the end for another of the famous climbs in the score, and the dancers hesitated as if to admit there was no point keeping up with the pianist. But on the next high note, they crashed into a group hug before running off with arms outstretched like planes in an ad for United Airlines. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody” has been used in a variety of ways over the years. On Saturday, it made the air around us less scary and friendlier.
Rhapsody in blue
Performed on Saturday at the Guggenheim Museum.
