Barriers, conceived by Trajectory Dance Project, a Baltimore-based dance ensemble, is a beautiful series of five pieces focusing on human connections, and how those connections can break down: barriers to community, barriers to interpersonal interconnectiveness, barriers to understanding ourselves.
The performance opened with a piece titled Barriers, allowing the company — Nasir David Powell, Maria del Carmen Vitery, Meredith Rabil Sibley, Alicia Williams, Frances James — to explore both choreographed movement and moments of interpretation and improvisation. It’s exhilarating to watch these dancers move with intelligence and integrity. Each move has an intuitive understanding of where it falls in relation to the next, and in relation to the other dancers on the floor.
Of the five pieces performed, my two favorites were Nchica II, pairing Meredith Rabil Sibley and Alicia Williams; and The Trial, which used the whole company.
It might be just my old eyes, but I do wish several of the pieces had been better lit. Some of that may have been intentional — the dim light may serve the piece better. And some of it may be tricky technical issues that would be too difficult to suss out and fix. But the movements are so wonderful and lovely; I wanted to see everything.
Barriers plays through November 9, 2017 at the 322 Stage – 322 North Howard Street, in Baltimore, MD. Tickets and Charm City Fringe Festival buttons may be purchased at Fringe HQ (Le Mondo, 406 N Howard Street), the venue, or online.
Baltimore’s historic Lexington Market is joining DC Theater Arts in support of our coverage of the Charm City Fringe Festival. The Market closes at 6 PM on weekdays and is closed Sundays, but we recommend that Fringe-goers stop by on Saturday to grab lunch and take a look around, in addition to checking out the local bands which play from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM.
