Dance Review : A ‘60s Trip Through a ‘90s Prism

With her glitter-encrusted chignon, accordion-pleated gown and her choreography and dancing, which can safely lay claim to the adjectives “fluid” and “transporting,” Monica Favand, artistic director of Trip Dance Theatre, could very well be the 21st century’s answer to Martha Graham.

In a collaborative effort with music director Charlie Campagna and nine featured onstage musicians, Trip premiered “Exquisite Corpse,” a 15-piece, full-evening work Saturday at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre. And what a trip it was! Making use of the Ford’s sylvan setting, Favand’s 2 1/2 hours felt, at times like a ‘60s concert at San Francisco’s famed Fillmore crossed with adrenaline-pumped, New Age sensibilities.

With set pieces bleeding into one another seamlessly, the performances were akin to a psychedelicized union, a mind-blowing journey into the aural and physical: Campagna’s crackling guitar work smacked of Jerry Garcia; the dancers, whether skittering on puffs of fabric or tossing off agile leaps, embodied a purity of movement.

The company-created “Lotus” set the tone, the musicians issuing forth a transfixing wall of sound. Sitarist Aloke Das Gupta, tabla player Hemant Ekbott, guitarist Campagna, and Ron Bartlett on tambura, saw Favand and troupe--Koala Yip, Nina Kaufman, Elaine Wang, Rebecca Butala and Johnny Tu--incorporate back-arching yogic moves with Shiva-like arm patterns that resembled an exotic temple painting.

In his solo “Rocket,” Tu proved a pliant force, commanding the stage with jet-propelled lunges to Bartlett’s ferocious drumming. Tu’s other solos, “Woven” and “Quiet,” took gentler tacks, stillness at their cores.

“Deep Land--Veiled Eclipse,” a fanciful “dance poem” by Yip, had the company cavort with balloons while discoursing on moon treks. Favand’s rhythmically complex “Belly,” in which the dancers alternated between one-legged stances and full-tilt whirling, were joined by a slew of Brazilian percussionists in this splashy finale.

The choreographic fly in Trip’s ointment? Kaufman’s unfortunate three “Dorris & Joan” segments, in which Kaufman and Favand enter on stilts, sit on a bench, and observe mostly meaningless arm gesticulations of their dancers. The Balkan ensemble Rumeli accompanied.

Kaufman’s blunder aside, one hopes that Trip keeps on, well, tripping.