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Capacitor is currently developing a new work, tentatively titled Forming
Continents, which will mine geological and geophysical nature. Meanwhile,
Avatars, an ambitious production combining concepts taken from computer games
and the five Chinese elements (earth, fire, water, metal, and wood), is being
reworked in preparation for performances at San Francisco's Cowell Theater
Fri/7 and Sat/8.
A capacitor is an electronic device that stores electric charge; when triggered,
it releases a burst of current. In rehearsal and performance, the company
is similar to its namesake. Like all Capacitor shows, Avatars and Forming
Continents present a counterpoint between tender rest and frenetic motion.
The dreamy, quasi-mystical opening and closing scenes of Avatars are balanced
against the violent convulsions of the Chinese element Wood as she is starved
of oxygen and the hysterical flailings of Water, trapped midair in a nightmarish
spider's web. Forming Continents places serene aerial acrobatics next to high-contact
duets in which the performers collide with sumo wrestler force. Unlike sumo
wrestlers, though, there's very little natural padding on any of the sinewy
dancers.
Bruising is commonplace. Lomask's extreme approach to choreography and the
tight rehearsal conditions of the company's Oakland studio make watching a
Capacitor rehearsal feel like being inside a bottle of champagne as it's being
vigorously shaken and about to explode. When Lomask and performer Alex Zendzian
were rehearsing sequences from Forming Continents recently, the two went at
it so hard that they ended up toppling over and plowing into the walls.
Given the company's penchant for risk-laden paraphernalia – fire helmets,
cages, ropes, and aerial rigging – safety is, unsurprisingly, a central
issue for Walter Holden, Capacitor's technical director. Holden's relationship
with Lomask is a delicate pas de deux between realizing the artistic director's
often technically complex dreams and preventing dancers from falling from
great heights or setting fire to the set. "Jodi is one of the most tenacious
people I've ever met," Holden says. "When she gets an idea into
her head, she won't let go.
When Lomask and Bernstein first met, at a party on Ocean Beach in 1997, they
knew they wanted to create work for people who don't normally go to the theater.
Avatars, which was first performed last year at the DNA Lounge and the now
defunct King Street Garage, is the latest Capacitor show to find a home in
clubland, rather than behind the traditional proscenium.
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