Hitting Their Stride

Athleticism and science collide with art in Black Label Movement’s new dance production.

In Black Label Movement’s latest work, HIT, dancers’ seemingly out-of-control bodies defy gravity and slam into one another.

Image credit: Black Label Movement

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By: Andrea Gussel |   February 2012   |  From the print edition

In Black Label Movement’s latest work, HIT, dancers’ seemingly out-of-control bodies defy gravity and slam into one another. While music by local composer Gary Brosofske rises and falls, energy surges through the performers’ limbs, creating maximum impact as they soar through the air and tackle each other to the ground. To say that trust is a key element in the production is an understatement.

“We don’t even think about it anymore,” says founding dancer Eddie Oroyan, who explains that after working together seven years, “there is already an established sense of trust” among many of the dancers.

Part of the inspiration for HIT, which runs Feb. 10-12 at the Cowles Center, came from a collaboration between the Minneapolis-based dance company and a biomedical engineer. That production explored the forces with which human cell particles collide by mimicking the cells in a cage using bodies and walls as points of impact. Further inspiration was drawn from artistic director Carl Flink’s experience playing sports growing up.

“On a football field you expect the players to tackle one another. But in a dance environment, this idea is sort of radical,” explains Flink.

BLM, founded in 2005 with what Flink calls a “no-nonsense, you-get-what-you-see philosophy,” has a history of extremely physical productions that push dancers’ bodies far beyond jetés. What makes HIT different from the company’s previous work, like 2006’s Bleeding Heart, is the added level of intense impact.

“It was a new, but natural, progression,” says Flink. And that progression will be made in a new, but natural, forum. “The Cowles Center works because the farthest seat is maybe 60 feet from the stage. The audience will practically be on top of the performers, which gives an added sense of connection.”

+ HIT runs Feb. 10 through Feb. 12 at the Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave., Mpls, 612.206.3636. For more information visit blacklabelmovement.com.