Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Pam Tanowitz’s mesmerizing SONG OF SONGS draws inspiration from Biblical text and Jewish heritage but stands exquisitely on its own

• By drediman
• November 10, 2023
• No Comments

Last night marked the New York premiere of Song of Songs, Pam Tanowitz’s latest evening length dance piece. After premiering last year at the Fisher Center at Bard College and further refined at the Barbican Centre in London earlier this year, the work – which is dedicated to the choreographer’s late father – now arrives in New York for three performances only at City Center (as part of its Artists at the Center series). I urge any serious fan of dance not to miss it.

The work draws inspiration from The Song of Songs found in the Hebrew Bible, a poem which depicts an intense love between a man and a woman, as well as Jewish folk dance. Instead of taking on the Biblical text and Jewish heritage literally – which I wouldn’t expect Tanowitz to do anyway – the choreographer uses them as a springboard for her distilled standalone vision of beauty and human connection. Set to Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang’s haunting, minimalist 2014 composition Just (After Song of Songs), the mesmerizing, mysterious hour-long piece is elegant and delicate, utilizing its seven dancers in exquisitely intuitive and probing ways. Indeed, the work gorgeously highlights Tanowitz’s unadorned musicality and sophisticated sense of composition, as exhibited by the way she allows her curiosity to spill her dance into every nook and cranny of the stage (simply yet strikingly outfitted by Tanowitz, Clifton Taylor, Reid Bartelme, and Harriet Jung).

In terms of movement, Song of Songs draws you in with Tanowitz’s uniquely serene aesthetic, which culls from classical ballet (the piece is rigorously conscious of lines and stage pictures) and Merce Cunningham’s unmistakably modern style (there’s a sense of untethered freedom that permeates it), which her dancers affectingly interpret with great care and calm precision. Throughout, a small but highly accomplished onstage ensemble of musicians – including cello, viola, percussion, and soprano voices – bring Lang’s score to luminous life.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

SONG OF SONGS
Dance
New York City Center
1 hour (without an intermission)
Through November 11