Was there any alternative for the thinly clad performers but to ignore the chilly temperatures at Thompson’s Point on Friday night? Since they were part of a piece called “no plan b,” the latest collaborative work from Alison Chase/Performance, it would seem at least thematically unlikely.

Ultimately, the performers generated more than enough creative heat.

Working with media designer Gene Felice and composer Franz Nicolay, director/choreographer Chase and her troupe created an unusual and engaging piece, which began its brief run at Fort Knox in Prospect last weekend before pitching its tent at Portland’s popular outdoor venue on the Fore River.

By way of introduction, Chase called the 55-minute work “experimental.”

Though not completely outside the ever-expanding parameters of contemporary performance art, the piece constituted a highly imaginative example of a thoughtful, multimedia approach. That it all happened on a broad stage under a big-top tent only added to a sense of witnessing something special.

A seated audience of 150 or so watched as performers Jessica Bendig, Graham Cole, Ezra Goh, Sean Langford, Jenna Sherman and Matthew Walfish moved mysteriously through passages obliquely referencing human history. Recorded electronic and acoustic music set rhythms and accentuated key moments.

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The performers employed bright, hand-held lights to illuminate each other and themselves as they seemed to evolve from low-to-the-ground writhing and wrestling to eventual crawling and hopping. Sculptural forms, involving two or more bodies intertwined and/or stacked upon each other, periodically emerged. Leaps were rare but bracing as the music hit hard edges.

Lifts tended to emphasize a sense of searching mixed with occasions of sensuality. Postures reflected anxiety, menace and desire as images projected on the tent surfaces moved from caves to ruins to apocalyptic fire and finally into outer space.

The movement often mixed athleticism with a rough grace. Pairs awkwardly engaged while larger groupings sometimes formed in ways that suggested multi-limbed creatures. Overtly lyrical moments stood out, particularly one backed only by piano and violin. Another, at the close, created a gentle sense of flow as the female performers were carried by the males.

Enigmatic but projecting a caring sensibility, “no plan b” delivered a good deal of warmth in its own memorable way.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.


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