Joshua Beamish/ MOVETHECOMPANY Debuts "The Masque of the Red Death" at The Joyce Theatre Ballet Festival

 

 Last month, the Joyce Theatre hosted its annual Ballet Festival, which showcased performances by various dance companies, including internationally known, Joshua Beamish/ MOVETHECOMPANY.  The New York based, contemporary company made its return to the Joyce stage, this time with the world premiere of Beamish's new full length work "The Masque of the Red Death", inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story.  The piece explored the different color palette, moods, and social context presented in Poe's Gothic tale. 

 

The work embodied the fantasy essence that is Poe's Red Death story.  Through a mixture of spoken and recorded texts from opera signer Jessye Norman, "The Secret Lives of Color" by Kassia St. Clair, and "Chromophobia" by David Batchelor, the audience was transported into a realm of darkness.  The piece was full of award worthy theatrics.

 The costumes and lighting played heavily into the ambiance.  While dark in tone, vibrant colors also shone throughout.  The dancers created abstract shapes and images against bright blues, greens, orange and a blinding white towards the end.  Sections with the spoken text sounded muffled at times, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional.  It added a distinct, underlying menacing element to the performance that fit the narrative eerily well.

 I have been moved by performances in the past, but this was different.  Watching Beamish's "The Masque of the Red Death" felt uneasy and unsettling, in a great way.  The unexpected trepidation, and anticipation of what would come next was a new and exhilarating experience. 

Photos courtesy of PR