Stay in the Loop
BSR publishes on a weekly schedule, with an email newsletter every Wednesday and Thursday morning. There’s no paywall, and subscribing is always free.
Headlong's "Hotel Pool' in New York
Jonathan M. Stein
Eat your heart out, Michael Phelps
JONATHAN M. STEIN
“I eat, sleep and swim,” Michael Phelps was quoted in the course of winning eight Olympic gold medals this month at Beijing. Thanks to Headlong Dance Theater’s New York revival of its 2004 aqua dream play, Hotel Pool, we now have an alternative vision for that Beijing pool experience, as well as, perhaps, an awareness of how the potential for sensual and pleasurable experiences is denied amid the demands of commerce and competition.
Hotel Pool— first presented at the Society Hill Sheraton Hotel pool in Philadelphia— made its New York debut in a one-week run ending August 16 at an indoor poor at a new condo building at Rector Square, Battery Park, presented by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Sitelines series as part of the River to River Festival.
Headlong’s Amy Smith enters as a coiffed and business-suited but harried and jet-lagged businesswoman who’s been denied a hotel room and must spend the night at the hotel swimming pool. Here some prescription meds bring her to another state of mind. At poolside her cell phone— her last connection with civilization— plummets to pool bottom. Suddenly multi-colored, iridescent forms appear underwater, darting out from a hidden area, and beginning Smith’s and the audience’s entry into a supernatural aqua world.
At first their mutual engagement is ambiguously menacing, but then it evolves into the playful and delicious, bringing Smith (still largely clothed) into this new and inviting alien world. The creatures begin emerging above water, all with wide-eyed amazement, mirroring Smith’s, and over time they become more animated as the mutual push-and-pull engagement develops.
Splashing the audience
Although this piece lacks the kind of complete physical engagement with the audience of other Headlong works like Cell (the 2006 Live Arts Festival piece, in which I performed), the poolside’s fourth ledge does get breached with creatures, in leaps from the water, crashing and splashing at the audience’s feet, with pool water at other times extending its reach to those in the audience.
The piece may falter somewhat when the movement invention in the water reaches its limits or with the too enigmatic cameo appearance of Bryn Mawr’s Mark Lord, who interjects a character from terra firma, removed and singularly dry.
The cast of aquatic creatures— David Brick, John Luna, Lorin Lyle, Heather Murphy and Christina Zani (with Kate Watson-Wallace appearing earlier in the run)— kept up a lung-challenging pace, especially in beautiful underwater glides and turns, and even when beached on poolside, they maintained their species-specific existence.
An added bonus
The New York version featured new costumes by Kelly Cobb, who created brightly colored ribbon-like skins for the phantasmagoric creatures, rendering them as both animal and plant life. A new lighting design by Jason H. Thompson brought an eerie, nocturnal translucence to the site, contributing to the otherworldly experience. The production employed a deft and minimalist use of accessories, from that submerged cell phone to an over-the-shoulder leather handbag, which, floating Magritte-like on the surface, symbolized Smith’s former life.
Incidentally, I caught the last performance evening after a sunny Saturday at a dance festival organized by the Battery Park Dance Company on Governor’s Island, which until recently had been closed to non-military personnel for almost 200 years. Now, via a free, five-minute ferry ride from South Ferry, you can see not only this 175-acre island but also the four 70-foot-high public art waterfalls designed by Olafur Eliasson along the East River, on view into October. Headlong's Pool fittingly complemented Eliasson's waterfalls in presenting alternative visions for today's world.
JONATHAN M. STEIN
“I eat, sleep and swim,” Michael Phelps was quoted in the course of winning eight Olympic gold medals this month at Beijing. Thanks to Headlong Dance Theater’s New York revival of its 2004 aqua dream play, Hotel Pool, we now have an alternative vision for that Beijing pool experience, as well as, perhaps, an awareness of how the potential for sensual and pleasurable experiences is denied amid the demands of commerce and competition.
Hotel Pool— first presented at the Society Hill Sheraton Hotel pool in Philadelphia— made its New York debut in a one-week run ending August 16 at an indoor poor at a new condo building at Rector Square, Battery Park, presented by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Sitelines series as part of the River to River Festival.
Headlong’s Amy Smith enters as a coiffed and business-suited but harried and jet-lagged businesswoman who’s been denied a hotel room and must spend the night at the hotel swimming pool. Here some prescription meds bring her to another state of mind. At poolside her cell phone— her last connection with civilization— plummets to pool bottom. Suddenly multi-colored, iridescent forms appear underwater, darting out from a hidden area, and beginning Smith’s and the audience’s entry into a supernatural aqua world.
At first their mutual engagement is ambiguously menacing, but then it evolves into the playful and delicious, bringing Smith (still largely clothed) into this new and inviting alien world. The creatures begin emerging above water, all with wide-eyed amazement, mirroring Smith’s, and over time they become more animated as the mutual push-and-pull engagement develops.
Splashing the audience
Although this piece lacks the kind of complete physical engagement with the audience of other Headlong works like Cell (the 2006 Live Arts Festival piece, in which I performed), the poolside’s fourth ledge does get breached with creatures, in leaps from the water, crashing and splashing at the audience’s feet, with pool water at other times extending its reach to those in the audience.
The piece may falter somewhat when the movement invention in the water reaches its limits or with the too enigmatic cameo appearance of Bryn Mawr’s Mark Lord, who interjects a character from terra firma, removed and singularly dry.
The cast of aquatic creatures— David Brick, John Luna, Lorin Lyle, Heather Murphy and Christina Zani (with Kate Watson-Wallace appearing earlier in the run)— kept up a lung-challenging pace, especially in beautiful underwater glides and turns, and even when beached on poolside, they maintained their species-specific existence.
An added bonus
The New York version featured new costumes by Kelly Cobb, who created brightly colored ribbon-like skins for the phantasmagoric creatures, rendering them as both animal and plant life. A new lighting design by Jason H. Thompson brought an eerie, nocturnal translucence to the site, contributing to the otherworldly experience. The production employed a deft and minimalist use of accessories, from that submerged cell phone to an over-the-shoulder leather handbag, which, floating Magritte-like on the surface, symbolized Smith’s former life.
Incidentally, I caught the last performance evening after a sunny Saturday at a dance festival organized by the Battery Park Dance Company on Governor’s Island, which until recently had been closed to non-military personnel for almost 200 years. Now, via a free, five-minute ferry ride from South Ferry, you can see not only this 175-acre island but also the four 70-foot-high public art waterfalls designed by Olafur Eliasson along the East River, on view into October. Headlong's Pool fittingly complemented Eliasson's waterfalls in presenting alternative visions for today's world.
Sign up for our newsletter
All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.
