The language of dance: Koresh revives ‘ev•o•lu•tion’

The dance studio is filled with pulsing music and sweating bodies. Koresh Dance Company is rehearsing a new incarnation of an existing work. This season they are reviving ev•o•lu•tion, a full-evening work that was first performed five years ago to critical acclaim. Since then, says artistic director Ronen (Roni) Koresh, he has undergone his own evolution as an artist and choreographer. As a result, the work, coming up on November 13-15 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, “looks totally different this time.”

Jessica Daley, who has been with the company since 2004, says that for the dancers (several of whom were in the previous production), there has also been an evolution.

“I’ve gotten more comfortable with the dance,” says Joe Cotler, who joined the company in 2009. The last time he focused on learning the steps; this time he can delve deeper into the meaning behind the dance.

Love before language

When he created the work, Koresh says, it was an “attempt at finding a new way of moving.” He wanted to investigate ways of communication.

“There was love before language,” he says. But how did people communicate longing and desire? “The gestures were amazing,” he imagines, and truthful. “It was hard to lie before language because lying means using your imagination.”

The question for him now is whether we have evolved since we developed language, or are we still just as primitive?

The dance shifts between group dances, in which the company embodies primitive tribal rituals tinged by fear, and intimate duets, in which the dancers explore wordless longing and sexual desire. A new section has been added of a man trying to get to work during rush hour in Manhattan. It carries the work forward from primitive man to the present day.

Moving past the comfort zone

“Movement has its own vocabulary,” says Koresh. “We have limited vocabulary within our own lives,” like the same coffee every morning, the same TV show at night. This dance explores going beyond that set vocabulary, pushing the dancers to move beyond their own comfort zones as well.

“It’s a dance,” says Koresh, “that can only be done by a community of dancers that are already connected.” It’s not just about the dance but about the connection as well. And that sense of connection applies not only to the company, but also to its place in the Philadelphia community and the cities they visit on tour.

The company tries to find a balance between touring, rehearsing, and presenting new works. While Koresh prefers developing new material — at least one full-length piece a year — he understands that audiences also like to see the familiar. In addition to Koresh’s touring schedule, they will be performing ev•o•lu•tion in Philadelphia in November, presenting a world premiere in March 2015, and mounting the annual Come Together Dance Festival in July 2015.

Koresh Dance Company’s ev•o•lu•tion is coming to the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, Broad and Lombard Streets, Philadelphia, November 13-15. For tickets and more information, call 215-985-0420 or click here.

At right: Micah Geyer in Koresh's ev•o•lu•tion. Photo by Pete Checchia.