Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – At The Joyce, MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP illuminates humanity vis-à-vis musicality as only Morris and his company can

• By drediman
• July 24, 2025
• No Comments

Currently at The Joyce Theater in Chelsea, you’ll be able to catch Mark Morris Dance Group in the midst of a two-week summer run consisting of two completely distinct programs. Aside from the opportunity to witness the beloved Brooklyn-based company perform in relatively intimate quarters, the thing that struck me most after having seen both bills was the breathtaking range of live music Morris has chosen for the engagement — from the classical lyricism of Richard Cumming, to Irish and Scottish folk music by way of Beethoven, to the transitional ragtime of James P. Johnson, to the introspective romanticism of Robert Schuman, to John Luther Adams’ collection of Alaskan folk music, to the childlike exuberance of Alexander Tcherepnin’s Bagatelles, to Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys’ country western songbook (astonishingly, this last selection was the only recorded track used across the two evenings). What’s even more astonishing is the ease in which Morris works within these disparate musical vernaculars; more on this below.

One of the primary draws of the company’s current residency at The Joyce was the privilege of catching two Morris world premieres (one in each program). Both new works initially gave the impression of being deceptively simple. Indeed, each seems to react instinctually to the music, patiently incorporating theme and variation into and expanding their respective choreographic worlds. Program A featured You’ve Got to Be Modernistic, an homage to the music of James P. Johnson — here arranged by Ethan Iverson — a pioneering musician who ushered ragtime’s evolution into jazz. Playfully building off the basic Charleston steps, Morris has created a dance that feels more complete than the sum of its individual parts suggest, which is part of the choreographer’s genius. The same can be said of Northwest, which was Program B’s premiere this past Tuesday. Set to ten short Alaskan folk compositions by John Luther Adams, the piece is a steady progression of generously-performed, gently artful episodes that evocatively capture the spirit of native Alaskan peoples through a lens of universality that dispels any sense of appropriation. Although neither will likely become Morris masterpieces, both show a mind in constant motion and engagement, even after 45 years in the business of making dances for his company.

These world premieres were accompanied by a diverse handful of Morris’s past creations — in total a robust overview of the variety of the choreographer’s output over the years. Invariably, what you’ll notice is the unforced humanity — pathos, humor, triumphs small and large, etc. — he conjures in his works. Often drawing from folk dance traditions, he accomplishes this by championing musicality over all else — including theater and physical pyrotechnics — which may explain the terrific longevity of his superb, idiosyncratic dancers, such as longtime company member Dallas McMurray, whose performances at The Joyce have been a joy (the freedom and discovery he exuded in the solo Ten Suggestions was especially ravishing). In short, these pieces not only give the impression that dancing is fun, but also inevitable. Overall, there’s a sense that all of his dances exist on the same pastoral plain — particularly evident in The Muir and the more abstract yet equally fulfilling Mosaic and United — their collective interconnectedness manifesting the gamut of the human experience. Even the tensions of The Argument feel like a temporary cloud passing over the larger tapestry of the human experience.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MARK MORRIS DANCE GROUP
Dance
The Joyce Theater
Each program runs approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes (with one intermission)
Through July 26