More Disorder Than Actual Art in ‘Treading’

Without Manon Robertshaw and Robin Cox’s live cello and violin playing, “Treading the Balance,” an evening of contemporary dance performed and choreographed by Stephanie Nugent and Stefan Fabry, would have been intolerable. Indeed, the seven-part program at Electric Lodge in Venice on Friday seemed more akin to a night at Bellevue than anything relating to art.

Nugent and Fabry’s joint endeavor, “Treading the Balance,” a contact improvisation work accompanied by the string duo, featured athletic gambits and tai-chi-like maneuvering. In spite of the push-pull factor, the dancers failed to connect, as arm-flailing and floor-scudding underscored the angst motif.

Their other duet, “Wedding Gift,” choreographed by Fabry, had them running, jumping and balancing a pole between their navels.

Fabry’s “Life Story” also made use of the pole, with the dancer violently swinging the prop like a madman. Insanity ruled, too, in “Wintering,” as Nugent, clad in kneepads and a flimsy wrap resembling a hospital gown, screamed, moaned, barked and squawked like a baby, finally parading through a pile of twigs to ask the question, “Would you move me?”

There was barking redux in Fabry’s “When Dogs Howl,” as he bayed before relentlessly jumping up and down behind a makeshift barbed-wire fence. Nugent’s bouncing took place on an oil barrel in “Her Caviar Spine,” with the dancer reciting her own nonsense-driven text about fish. “Walk” featured Nugent swooshing to a string-based tape track.

A shambled evening; perhaps Prozac was in order.