The Winger » Becky, Jodi and John

Becky, Jodi and John

April 4, 2007 at 4:10 pm · Filed under dancers, GIA, GIA PICKS, recommendation, john jasperse, becky hilton, jodi melnick, dance theater workshop, contemporary dance, new york dance

| | Posted by Gia Kourlas

John Jasperse is a name you should know: his cerebral dances, acclaimed in New York and throughout Europe (William Forsythe is a fan) transformed contemporary dance beginning with 1995’s Excessories. He returns to Dance Theater Workshop this week with a trio, Becky, Jodi and John, featuring himself and two of downtown dance’s most riveting performers: Becky Hilton and Jodi Melnick.
I recommend this for the opportunity to witness extremely high-quality performers. There’s live music by Hawn Rowe (he’s a genius). But the main reason is that this dance is about dancers (the three met in New York in the mid-’80s). There’s nudity, but it’s not like Ann Liv. I won’t say anything else. Just go.

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tonya said,

April 4, 2007 @ 4:21 pm

I’m there! Thanks, Gia

tony said,

April 4, 2007 @ 8:22 pm

I took composition class with John as an undergraduate way back in the day (1996). Old school. He is a physicist turned dancer. I keep finding more of this particular hybrid. Guess I am not so special, but its good company. Hope to make this performance.

Swan Lake Samba Girl » Blog Archive » Help, I Don’t Want a Lap Dance!!! | Tonya Plank | Writer, Dancer and Public Interest Lawyer said,

April 9, 2007 @ 1:42 am

[…] Just really quickly since this post is now about 100,000 words long, Friday night, on Gia’s Winger recommendation again, I went to see “Becky, Jodi and John” at Dance Theater Workshop. Much more mellow than Keigwin Kabaret, but I found it compelling in its sublelty and bittersweet humor. Choreographed by John Jasperse and featuring him, Becky Hilton, and Jodi Melnick (all 43 years old, oddly enough), it dealt mainly with aging and dance: the dancer’s ‘aging’ body; how changing self-esteem and increasing self-knowlege alters how you present yourself and what you’re willing to do during a performance (after Jasperse asks her to do the project, Melnick goes through a long, humorous litany of problems she’s been having lately with her joints and muscles, and tells him there are certain things she doesn’t like to show anymore, such as her arms); the choreographer’s ‘aging’ mentality and how s/he’s perceived by critics and peers as “old” (at one point, Jasperse came out onstage naked, carrying a load of bricks, placed the bricks down and assembled them into a structure while another dancer read a critic’s review of his work, telling him he was too “formalist” and needed to loosen up); and the power and absolute necessity of maintaining friendships with each other over the years and across the miles (after Jasperse finishes his ‘building’ he walks to Melnick who stares down at his genitals questioningly, humorously, then they perform a beautiful pas de deux illustrating their mutual reliance on each other for physical and emotional support. Like the Forsythe and Young works I blogged about recently, this also was multi-media, using video projections, spoken word, and of course dance to explore its themes. While it was centered around dance, I still think many people could relate to the themes — to the process of aging, feeling your body begin to give, feeling “old” compared to the younger generation, maintaining friendships while people go their separate ways, etc. […]

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