DANCE: Geomantics Dance Theatre's "Your Life Is Not Your Own"

By Jen Graney on June 16, 2009

If you live anywhere near the Neighborhood of the Arts, it's easy to walk to the new Multi-use Community Cultural Center on Atlantic Ave. Once a church, MuCCC (pronounce it "muck") has been transformed to a cool arts space that Geomantics Dance Theatre took over for two evenings and a Saturday afternoon last week. The company staged "Your Life is Not Your Own," which also had a recent run at Geva.

Heavy black fabric covered the stained glass windows, and a cozy reception area with a piano and several couches almost made you forget the place was ever a church. Even the pews - raised, auditorium-style, for better viewing -- weren't as uncomfortable as you'd expect.

Local band Night Gallery was set up against one side of the room, and provided perfect, eerie accompaniment to the show. Each of the instrumental pieces were accented by Matt Klock's work on a synth machine that looked like an old-fashioned telephone operator's switchboard. The dances, though, were mostly (all? memory fails) to pre-recorded music, including two pieces composed specifically for the production by Night Gallery's Eric Zabriskie.

The first dance was probably my favorite: a crumpled mound of newspapers, like you'd find in the corner of a pack rat's house, moved across the stage, while a trio of dancers used other newspapers to enhance the abrupt, jerky, manic movements of their dance.

During part of the production, someone's amp started to pick up a radio signal. Instead of being entirely distracting, it somehow almost underscored the experience. After all, you can't really control things like that; your life is not your own.