Miguel Gutierrez’s latest work is titled, “Super nothing” approaches opposite ends of the spectrum, as if separating itself: the overstuffed and the empty, the ephemeral and the trivial. It evokes the paradoxes of life in dance – the medium that requires so much effort for so little material reward – and of survival in general. Recently The conversation Along with Bill T. Jones, artistic director of New York Live Arts, where “Super Nothing” opened Sunday, Gutierrez noted that a dance or a life, in the grand scheme of things, “is a bit of a shock.”
Which doesn’t detract from what dance can do, or why it might be needed. In “Super Nothing,” the sweeping finale of a two-year live arts residency, Gutierrez, 54, asks how dance can combat life’s constant sadness. How can trusting relationships help us?
The relationships here are tinged with both tenderness and struggle, played out among a cast of four dancers — Jay Carlon, Justin Faircloth, Wendell Gray II and Evelyn Lillian Sanchez Narvaez — who brace themselves for the evening’s sordid demands. Give completely. At different times, they can be lovers, family, friends or strangers. Gutierrez, whose work cuts across the realms of writing, music and dance, is often text-heavy, with “Super Nothing” communicating almost entirely through movement, the powerful beats of Rosanna Cabin’s immersive sound design. runs from Immunity is an introductory poem that encourages us to pay attention, and asks: “What will happen? What will become of us?”
The dance begins with this turn of a question. Faircloth and Gray are the first to appear, one resting his chin on the other’s shoulder before they break off on their separate paths, limbs leaping and slashing with a frenzy that over the next hour. Get serious. Gutierrez developed this work in part by revisiting old footage of his exercises. This process of sifting through the archive can contribute to an overall sense of pieces stitched together, sometimes with seamless inevitability, sometimes unexpectedly.