Revisiting Revisor’s Recall and Repetition

Amy Griffith

March 20, 2019

Dr Claudette Lauzon

CA319W E200

Revisiting Revisor’s Recall and Repetition

I had the privilege of watching Contemporary Dance Company Kidd Pivot’s Revisor by Crystal Pite and Jonathan Young as it premiered February 20 - 23, 2019. The performance was an exhilarating exploration of connecting voice to movement in the body. The eight dancers displayed exaggerated theatrical movements that were led by the spoken text. Every inhale, exhale, sigh, and hum was perfectly timed with the dancers' embodiment. It was extremely satisfying throughout the entire performance. As the storyline continued, the piece rewinded and visited scenes from the beginning, breaking down the movement. Movements were repeated and phrases of the text were spoken again. It was as though they went back to the start and began to dissect the piece. The narrator explained the gestures rapidly as they happened and moments of the dance were exposed that the viewer may have missed from the first time around. I am interested if this use of repetition in dance choreography adds a layer of clarity to dance performances? 

As Revisor is a great example of the use of repetition as well as recall in choreography, I believe that it was used in such a way that it gave the performance clarity to a whole new extent. Revisiting already-executed choreography during a performance allows the audience members with little dance exposure to observe the information and understand it more fully after seen in a new perspective. Extra complexity was added as the movements already seen were broken down and exaggerated. A review from Mooney on Theatre touches on this when Kearney wrote, “Pivot takes the title of the work to new heights, constantly revising what is happening on stage, in the play, in the theatre and dance world – showing the complexities of contemporary dance in a way I have yet to see”(2019). Even though it was shown with different quality, mood and soundtrack put on top of it, the recall explored the complexity so in-depth that even the non-dancer eye was able to comprehend it.

Repetition and recall in dance act as tools to establish within the work. Repetition can be the same move or phrase introduced as many times as the choreographer insists throughout the piece. Whereas a recall such as the one presented in Revisor took the audience back to the beginning of the story entirely. The setting, the positions of the characters, and the movement were all like a rewind rather than a motif. I do believe repetition can give a piece a cohesive structure although it can become overused to a certain extent. As proposed in The Guardian Dance Blog, “If repetition can bend time, alter mind states and make movement radiant, it can also make you look around desperately for the nearest escape exit”(2014). This can be the case when overusing repeated choreography overpowers everything else happening on stage. The dancers' movements can become predictable, boring, and very quickly, the audience would be looking for a way out of the theatre. I believe that this is only the case when repetition is used in extreme cases. Unlike how Revisor added the many changes into the few repeated sections of the piece.

When the soundtrack changed with the recall, it made you wonder if you were watching the same thing again. Instead of the original text, the dancers embodied the woman’s voice that was explaining every movement precisely. What really gave the clear structure and clarity and obvious sign it was a recall was that the characters were in the exact same position at the beginning of the story, as well as the props. The audience witnessed the dance happening again, more broken down, more complex which became rather mesmerizing and exciting. It was as though the things we missed became unraveled. We noticed important moments from different characters and began to solve the story of the false identity which is what the story was based on. As the audience, we became a part of solving a mystery which is a genius way to maintain a connection with your audience without breaking the fourth wall.

Repetition is a tool choreographers can use to make the dancing easily accessible to any member in the audience viewing the work. It takes a great amount of repetition for it to become overbearing as it is visually satisfying and allows us to understand the movements in space rather than just seeing limbs of bodies moving around. Repetition holds a great amount of power because of this. It allows the dance world to become more accessible to those who are not familiar. Just like learning anything else, a new language, how to drive, or how to learn new dance choreography things must be repeated to be understood fully. Once you see it or do it a couple of times you can understand what it is that is going on. You can understand what it is exactly that you are seeing. Revisor was able to use this tool to a great extent. Pite and Young created a magnificent work of art with it, and I do not believe it would have been as effective without the recall and repetition.

References:

Revisor, Kidd Pivot https://kiddpivot.org/works/revisor/ 2017. 

Kisselgoff, Anna. Dance View; What is Repetition doing to choreography? https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/19/arts/dance-view-what-is-repetition-doing-to-choreography.html

1986. 

Kearney, Deanne. Mooney on Theatre. Review: Revisor (Kidd Pivot/Canadian Stage) https://www.mooneyontheatre.com/2019/03/09/review-revisor-kidd-pivot-canadian-stage/ 2019.

Mackrell, Judith. The Guardian. Repetition in Dance: Mind bending and Mesmerizing or Just Plain Maddening? https://www.theguardian.com/stage/dance-blog/2014/may/30/repetition-in-dance-mindbending-mesmerising-maddening 2014.