Ivy Grows. - DTW's Bessie Schonberg Theater, New York, New York - dance reviews

Dance Magazine, March, 1996 by Rose Anne Thom

DONNA UCHIZONO COMPANY DTW'S BESSIE SCHONBERG THEATER NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 10, 1995 REVIEWED BY ROSE ANNE THOM

Ivy Grows is the title of an evening-length work by Donna Uchizono that accumulates material from as long ago as 1990. The first section, "Polynesian Shorts," consists of four brief sketches. In short Tahition temper, five women face upstage, their sensual Polynesian dance interrupted by gestures of female frustration and anger: hands thrust down on hips, raised fists, stiffened backs. The accompaniment of traditional Tabitian drums provides an ironic aural context. For her monologue, Talking Ball, Uchizono paces restlessly, swinging Maori poi balls, as she comments on aspects of her own life and sanity. Illness, prejudice, and psychics are subjects of her thoughtful, provoking, and funny speech.

The newest part of the work, "quietly goes a giant jane," has three sections. In Drinkinq Ivy, Uchizono and Nikki Costro are almost always inseparable. With wigs of tangled blue tresses all but covering their faces and fabric of dark blue masking their bodies, their splayed hands grope the air as they travel at a meager pace. The dynamic collage of sounds by Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris and James Lo provides a texture lacking in the choreography. Walled, for Jennifer Allen, Carla Rudiger and Yukiko Shinozaki, in gaudy orange wigs, repeats the all-too-familiar themes of woman as object, woman as fashion slave, and woman as bimbo. May we move along? The final section, Through the Cracks, brought the dancers from both sections together but without any resolution. Another monologue might have helped.