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Broad Street Review

SoLow Fest 2018: Automatic Arts’ ‘People Are Strange and Other Revelations’

Quirky quartet

Mark Cofta

Writer-director-performer Josh McIlvain starts the evening with a darkly funny recorded pre-show announcement. This travels into intriguing territory when he explains that “robots have rights” and that the space is haunted by vampires.

A gallery of characters 

The creepy vibe continues in “Away,” which McIlvain performs with a microphone in the small space, switching lights on and off as he goes. “Away” is actually a dialogue, I realized.

It’s a discussion about escaping everyday life to start over elsewhere, veering into a hilarious consideration of blindness’ possible benefits and brilliant throwaway moments such as, “I’ve been trying out saying that Jesus said stuff.” (As our president has proven, say something often enough and people believe it.)

Nik Menotiades’s “That’s My Time” likewise includes multiple characters. A nervous stand-up comedian wearing a tracksuit tells corny jokes (“Where were potatoes first fried? In Greece!”).

Menotiades also plays a heckler who takes over the show, then transforms into another comic (new costume hidden beneath the tracksuit), performing funny animal impressions. His excruciating comedy of discomfort left me thinking fondly of Andy Kaufman.

In “Key West or Bust,” written and directed by McIlvain, Tara Demmy plays Billy, a guy driving with friends from Troy, New York to southern Florida. Demmy wades into the audience, talking to us like we’re old friends sharing stories. Billy’s adventure is equally funny and sad, as the drive’s rigors nearly ruin Margaritaville, but Demmy’s lovable lout finds a silver lining.

McIlvain also penned “A Friend,” performed by Marissa Kennedy. As “M” sits painting, she recalls a variety of friends in a soft-spoken and sincere stream-of-consciousness chat that is deceptively detailed and deep. Can men and women really be friends? There’s no easy answer.

Nothing automatic

Like Automatic Arts’ “Nice and Fresh” series, People Are Strange slyly proves larger than the sum of its parts. Their DIY approach brews connections between disparate (and desperate) characters unadorned by theater’s more formal trappings. The humor often emanates from a feeling of common experience: at one time or another, we’ve been all these characters.

We’re just folks in a room, perhaps sipping a beer (Thoughtfully provided!), sharing something special. People Are Strange is us.

It only took us 10 years, but we’re quite pleased with it. Created by Lisa Modica!

Automatic Arts is thrilled to present Gaga in Philadelphia August 2 – 4, 2017 at The Performance Garage (1515 Brandywine Street). Classes will be taught by Or Meir Schraiber from Batsheva Dance Company.

Gaga Workshop & Open Classes August 2, 3 & 4 

A 3 day Gaga Workshop for $100. The Workshop is open to professional dancers and dance students ages 16 or older. The daily schedule is:

• 10:00am – 11:15am Gaga Class
• 11:30am – 1:15pm Ohad Naharin Repertoire

We also will  be offering 3 days of Open Gaga People Classes  from  6pm – 7 pm for $17 per class. Gaga People is open to the general public and available for anyone at any age (16 or older), without the necessity of previous experience.

Space is limited and we encourage you to register in advance.

Register for the Gaga Workshop

Register for Open Gaga Classes

Questions? Contact Deborah Crocker at automaticartsco@gmail.com

What is Gaga?

Gaga is a movement language which Ohad Naharin developed over the course of many years and which is applied in daily practice and exercises by the Batsheva Dance Company members. The language of Gaga originated from the belief in the healing, dynamic, ever-changing power of movement.

Gaga is a new way of gaining knowledge and self-awareness through your body. Gaga provides a framework for discovering and strengthening your body and adding flexibility, stamina, and agility while lightening the senses and imagination. Gaga raises awareness of physical weaknesses, awakens numb areas, exposes physical fixations, and offers ways for their elimination. The work improves instinctive movement and connects conscious and unconscious movement, and it allows for an experience of freedom and pleasure in a simple way, in a pleasant space, in comfortable clothes, accompanied by music, each person with himself and others.

Mr. Gaga a film by Tomer Heymann

“Gaga challenges multi-layer tasks. We are aware of the connection between effort and pleasure,  we are aware of the distance between our body parts, we are aware of the friction between flesh and bones, we sense the weight of our body parts, yet, our form is not shaped by gravity . . . We are aware of where we hold unnecessary tension, we let go only to bring life and efficient movement to where we let go . . . We are turning on the volume of  listening to our body, we appreciate small gestures, we are measuring and playing with the texture of our flesh and skin, we might be silly, we can laugh at ourselves.  We connect to the sense of “plenty of time,” especially when we move fast, we learn to love our sweat, we discover our passion to move and connect it to effort, we discover both the animal we are and the power of our imagination.  We are “body builders with a soft spine. We learn to appreciate understatement and exaggeration, we become more delicate and we recognize the importance of the flow of energy and information through our body in all directions.  We learn to apply our force in an efficient way and we learn to use “other” forces.

We discover the advantage of soft flesh and sensitive hands, we learn to connect to groove even when there is no music. We are aware of people in the room and we realize that we are not in the center of it all. We become more aware of our form since we never look at ourselves in a mirror; there are no mirrors.  We connect to the sense of the endlessness of possibilities.  Yielding is constant while we are ready to snap . . .

We explore multi-dimensional movement, we enjoy the burning sensation in our muscles,  we are aware of our explosive power and sometimes we use it.  We change our movement habits by finding new ones, we can be calm and alert at once.

We become available . . .”

-Ohad Naharin

Ohad Naharin has been hailed as one of the world’s preeminent contemporary choreographers. As Artistic Director of Batsheva Dance Company since 1990, he has guided the company with an adventurous artistic vision and reinvigorated its repertory with his captivating choreography. His works have also been performed by prominent companies including Nederlands Dans Theater, the Paris Opera Ballet, Les Grand Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Compañía Nacional de Danza (Spain), Cullberg Ballet (Sweden), Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (New York), and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (New York).  Naharin is also the originator of an innovative movement language, Gaga, which has enriched his extraordinary movement invention, revolutionized the company’s training, and emerged as a growing force in the larger field of movement practices for both dancers and non-dancers.

Photos by Gadi Dagon.