Review: Arena Dances’ ‘Monument’ captures a striking range of styles

Dancers Leslie O’Neill and Dustin Haug make a bewitching pair in the premiere of “As of Now,” part of Arena Dances’ “Monument” performance at the Luminary Arts Center. The show highlights past works by artistic director Mathew Janczewski, who reflects on his artistic trajectory, with “As of Now” being the one new piece.

In the work, O’Neill and Haug display their technical ability and also their softness. They fold into each other, and share a precarious tenderness. Created by the dancers with input from rehearsal director Laura Selle Virtucio, the piece is performed to different music, which is selected randomly, each night. On Thursday, they danced to Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”

The piece both begins and ends with Haug holding up O’Neill’s knee. It’s an awkward show of support, but this work invites the audience into its strange rules. The dancers crawl together, dragging their heads along the floor. They lift one another up as if they are flying, flop together and maintain a fascinating connection.

The other three pieces in “Monument” offer a striking range of qualities.

“For Entertainment Purposes Only (reimagined premiere/2022)” is glitzy, tongue in cheek and a bit sly. It opens with Sarah McCullough inside of a giant spool of red cloth, rolling across the stage at a diagonal. Eventually she unravels fabric — it looks a bit like a red carpet, and she jumps out to reveal her glittery singlet. She’s soon joined by Non Edwards, Jake Nehrbass and Vy Nguyen in a show-tune sendup complete with high kicks, shimmering fingers and lots of sass.

There’s a subtle deconstruction Janczewski employs in the choreography, where glamorous moves are performed with a dose of alienation. The main four dancers are joined by three apprentice dancers wearing loose-fitting, gray-striped hoodies. The concise motions of the apprentices act as a critique of their counterparts’ showmanship.

“Huddle,” from 2008, is set to the music of Radiohead and 65 days of static. It centers four men in suits dancing amid wooden boards. The piece pokes at notions of masculinity and of success, as the dancers change their physical surroundings, lash out at their constraints and attempt to build something new.

“Navigations,” which Janczewski choreographed in 2003 for Zenon Dance Company, concludes the evening. It’s the kind of epic work Zenon was known for doing, with complex patterns and lyricism. Because the work is excerpted, the arc gets a bit lost, but it’s a nice nod to the company, which stopped stage performances in 2019.

Taken with the rest of “Monument,” the piece reflects on Janczewski’s deep roots in the Twin Cities dance scene as it celebrates his development as a choreographer.

When: 7:30 p.m. Fri. & Sat.; 2 p.m. Sat.

Where: Luminary Arts Center, 700 N. 1st St., Mpls.

Tickets: $25. luminaryartscenter.com