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Rosanna Gamson/World Wide
Ravish
Nov. 18, 2007
New LATC, Downtown Los Angeles

A multimedia infused dance theater work inspired by the Bronte sisters, the gothic romance novelist that wrote books Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and The Tenant of Wildfare Hall. This is an abstract biographical piece set in the creative yet isolated environment that they grew up in.

Choosing one specific piece from this production is difficult because it seemed to be one continuous dance, regardless of the dancers' exiting and entering and changing of music. The choreography throughout the hour had complicated and intertwined themes. There were times that I could not tell if the characters were supposed to be dreaming or awake of even if they were even the same character as they were in the last "scene". Some of the reoccurring movement indicated a bit of franticness. There was a shaky hand thing that returned in various places and in different dancers. Another one that was particularly interesting was the sound of ballet toe shoes tapping and then a response made by another dancer by tapping their knuckles on the stage. Each time this motif came in it was a change of mood in the scene and a shift of focus for the audience. The toe shoe effect was varied from one dancer who looked as though she was trying to learn to walk, to four dancers doing classic ballet type dancing.
A little insight to what may have been going on was given to the audience through some multimedia by Barnaby Levy and Sensing Places LLC. In between those exits and entrances the audience gets glimpses of domicile behaviors and flashing of words, both random and full text statements. The statements that came in complete thoughts eluded to the imagination of the sisters portrayed in this work. One in particular screened phrase said but even an imaginary romance is a love affair.' Other visual effects like an interactive floor and yellow beams indicated dream states and places indicative of the imaginative atmosphere that the sisters created. The music, by Rob Bailis, varied in instrumentation and style but all keeping an eerie feel to them. The costumes were designed by one of the dancers, Lilia Lopez, for most of the work the female dancers wore what looked like night gowns made of fabrics that were light in texture and ghostly in color, once more driving into the ground this idea of and imaginary world.
Not having read any of the novels listed and not knowing the background of the authors may have made viewing and completely understanding what was going difficult. The intention of Rosanna Gamson's Ravish was clear; it was created to bring alive the make believe world of these epic novelists and to bring into the light what great an influence our imaginations can be on each of us.

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