Of NobleMotion Dance’s latest program, set to open at the MATCH this week, Andy Noble, co-artistic director with wife Dionne Sparkman Noble, says, “I would say the whole evening, in a way, deals with what I’d call midlife observations about a world in disrepair.”
As such, the Nobles have aptly titled the program, featuring four world premieres and a returning fan favorite, Pressure Point.
“Whenever I turn on the news, I feel there’s just incredible pressure,” says Noble. “It doesn’t matter what your beliefs are, where you are in the political spectrum, it feels like there’s a little bit of chaos and a lot of polarization. Conversations are tough right now, and I think that’s where we thought we could produce, because what’s lovely about dance is you can say a lot without being literal.
There’s a lot of room for interpretation, and it allows things to open up where words can get in the way. I think that’s what we’re trying to do: get people to feel some things, to question, to reflect, to come in wherever they’re at in their world and push up against the things we’re making.”
The Punchline, a world premiere political satire that originated from Noble’s idea to use blue tape to break up the space as the piece progresses, is one such work that asks a lot of questions of its viewers.
“The questions we ask are like, who draws the lines? Who do you put on one side of the line and the other? How do we box each other in? What is safe space?” says Noble.
The work incorporates blank protest signs, allowing people to fill in the blank with their own values. Similarly, it features a presidential debate utilizing the tap dance skills of company members Dillon Bell and Wesley Cordova to comedic effect.
“Instead of words coming out, we’re letting the tap do the speaking,” says Noble. “You can put whatever words you want in there. It reflects the behavior and the scene behavior, and less the words.”
Though lines are drawn with blue tape in The Punchline, it’s red that will fill the stage in Landfall, a world premiere from Sparkman Noble for 18 women.
“The color red is very symbolic in the work,” says Sparkman Noble. “The costumes are red. There are red rose petals falling from the ceiling for the entirety of the work, so by the end, there are all these petals on the floor. We are using a white marley floor, and the lighting will be saturated and red; therefore, the floor is red.”
Between the color and the movement, Sparkman Noble says multiple metaphors are working together within the piece.
“I think the color red and women [evoke] this idea of your cycle, this forever time of something that just keeps occurring. I also think there’s a bit of a metaphor towards war, the idea of land falling, of things falling to the earth that can be destructive. In this case, we have something beautiful falling, but perhaps it doesn’t have to be something beautiful,” says Sparkman Noble. “I think all of that is wrapped up in the work, which is complicated, but also it is very cinematic.”
Noble thought it would be good to juxtapose Landfall with a men’s piece, a choice that was also practical.
“Because the women were all going to be rehearsing [Landfall], I was like, ‘Well, I’ve got all these men,’” says Noble. “’What are we going to do?’”
With the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), with all its colorful characters and performativity, in mind – “I grew up in the ‘80s,” Noble explains – he created the pro-wrestling-inspired No-Holds Barred, a work for seven men that explores what Noble considers the “interesting moment” men today are experiencing.
“I feel like in this moment, it has become almost a little bit fashionable to dog on men a little bit,” says Noble. “I’ll sometimes walk into a space and hear comments like, ‘Oh, I hate all men, but we don’t hate you’ or something like that…I understand where it’s coming from and understand its motive. But it is a strange thing to hear.”
Through No-Holds Barred, Noble says he “wanted to push against that feeling” and “really show the complexity of men.”
Noble describes the piece as beginning with “a little fun” and “an almost post-modern aesthetic,” with the dancers dressed in singlets and mats on the ground.
“I took this idea of rugby, of a scrum, all the men pushing in, and it looks like conflict, but out of it these lifts emerge, and it’s incredibly sensitive. There are moments of vulnerability, and there’s softness, and there’s a physicality to it, but there’s also this tenderness inside of it,” says Noble. “I thought it was going to be a sillier piece, interestingly. And it’s not that silly. It’s actually pretty heartfelt.”
The program’s final world premiere, Phantom Reach, was born from frequent collaborator Badie Khaleghian’s suggestion to do something with hands. Following a long weekend with the multimedia composer at his lab in Maine, where Khaleghian works at Bowdoin College, the piece and its protagonist, Aaron Stands, emerged.
“We realized there was a main character, and I thought, well, instead of it being the dancer, let’s develop an actual character,” says Noble. “Because his hands are on stage, the main character’s hands are on stage, it’s like you’re looking from a unique perspective.”
Because of the piece’s use of projections to show the character’s hands, viewers will experience Phantom Reach from both first-person and third-person points of view, creating an anxious and distorted reality.
“I wanted to get inside the head of somebody who’s in a loop,” says Noble. “The hands that are projected all over the space become an inward manifestation of his worldview and what’s going on.”
Sparkman Noble adds, “The dancers are an extension of him. They’re like his thoughts come to life, manipulating him. He has to suppress them, or he gets overtaken by them.”
Finally, fan favorite KinkyKool Fan Blowing Hard will make its hometown return after a ten-year absence. Choreographed by Noble in 2009, KinkyKool Fan Blowing Hard was the first piece the Nobles presented in Houston.
“We were new to Houston, and I wanted to show our range, so each section is short,” says Noble. “It moves quickly from one section to the next, and it gives you a taste of how we play with structure and form, how we play with line, how we play with a little bit of humor and being a little irreverent, how we play with metaphor, and how physical we want our dances to be. It showcases all of that in 12 minutes.”
The piece uses three large industrial fans, which move through the space, with each section showing a different interpretation of what the fans could represent. Though it’s filled with bombastic elements, Noble says, the centerpiece of the dance is a duet about addiction.
Since the company’s original group of dancers has long since moved on to new things, Noble says bringing the piece back to life with new dancers has required starting from zero and building it back up.
“Some sections are almost identical. In other sections, they’re very different,” says Noble. “I’ve changed a little bit, too, so it’s been fun to revisit it. As I told somebody, it’s a younger man’s work for me, and I get to look back at it and ask the questions: Is it still relevant? Is it still interesting? Does it still have the impact that it did? I think it does, but I’ll be curious to see what the audience sees.”
Noble hopes that audiences who come out to see Pressure Point will walk away more open, more compassionate, and a little more willing to listen to someone with a different point of view. He also believes that since NobleMotion “rides the line” between artmaking and entertainment, anyone who sees the program will enjoy something. Though if you don’t, he says, that’s okay, too.
“If you hate it, you can tell me that. Let’s talk afterwards,” says Noble. “I’m just happy you’re there.”
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. August 21-23 at The MATCH, 3400 Main. For more information, call 713-521-4533 or visit noblemotiondance.com. $20-$35, with pay-what-you-can admission (minimum $5) on August 21.
