Connections bubble up in ‘Glasslands’
Plastic may be the scourge of the world, but it finds a kind of redemption in “Glasslands,” Printz Dance Project’s exploration of human connection in the age of technology. Transformed into clear, room-size bubble-pods and drifting opaque sheets, the polymers in “Glasslands” keep people apart while inspiring communal expressions of longing, love and whimsy.
Co-conceived by choreographer Stacey Printz and set designer Sean Riley, the inflatable meta-world of “Glasslands” premiered at Z Space on Thursday, May 4.
Printz choreographed the 65-minute work in collaboration with the nine terrific dancers, yet “Glasslands” is stamped with Printz’s clever musical syncopation and contemporary-jazz style, inflected with riffs of hip-hop,
Glasslands: 6 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, May 6. Z Space, 450 Florida St., S.F. $25-$50. www.printz dance.org samba and an unselfconscious rave vibe.
Dancers entered and exited the two bubbles mysteriously, shrouded by Wolfgang Wachalovsky’s deft manipulation of light and shade. And as they went through the pod doors — zippered panels that trace the outline of an iPhone — air-pressure changes produced intriguing deflationary effects.
The bubbles doubled as isolation chambers and gathering places. Printz’s frantic bubble solo suggested a desperation to reach the dancers outside, whose hands she palmed through the pliant wall. Later, a half-dozen dancers reclining languorously on the bubble floor were voyeurs gazing outward at Printz and Jorge Vazquez’s intimate duet, as it pressed into the sphere.
Wachalovsky bathed the stage in a rainbow of LED hues, shifting the mood on cue with a mixtape of techno, house and pop by Kasper Bjorke, B-Patrol, Oh Wonder and others. A purple glow suffused Corey Brady’s bubble solo, subtly outlining his whipping undulations.
New vignettes began as others dissipated like vapor, in wonderfully seamless staging. Ensembles materialized like flash mobs, running and hopping in place while gesturing thumbs-up with tonguein-cheek sass. While Printz and Jenni Bregman twinned inside and out of a bubble, the group swept in and smooshed against the plastic.
The bubbles mostly served as containers, and more could have been made of their textural effects and antigravity potential; dancers sometimes crouched and leaned into the surfaces to achieve otherwise impossible positions, but were quickly obscured by the motion swirling around them.
When duets materialized in the open, where the dancers could move freely, you wish they would never end: Brady and Suzy Myre in 45 seconds of entwined unity, or the physical comedy of Bregman and Louis Acquisto enacting a voice-over of Tinder tips.
The most mesmerizing duet was technically a solo. Katerina Wong danced under, around and with a billowing plastic drape, in such a way that it attained breath and life; her interpretive gifts are simply splendid. The fine cast also included Sadie Carhart, Kim Holt and Camryn Kelly.
Those spotlit dances showcased the artists’ individuality and provided abstract relief from the “Glasslands’ ” sometimes too-patent concept. Then again, perhaps that proves Printz’s point: For all the ways we sync through apps and devices, the most potent connections we make are still analog, in person, unmediated by plastic.