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Kinesis Project Dance Theater 'Pressing Empty'
February 13, 2010 -- Judson Memorial Church, New York I was immediately intrigued by Kinesis Project Dance Theater’s “Pressing Empty” before any movement had even begun. Judson Memorial Church has such an enormous, tranquil and beautiful space to dance in, and the setting was entirely appropriate for this expressive piece. This dance took a dive into the various emotions of a bride and groom. They dealt with having to face that inner battle during those extreme moments before your wedding day. These dancers expressed doubt, perplexity, loneliness, and most of all, emptiness. Overall, this piece was incredibly engaging, with the expressive movement giving a real sense of what it would feel like to go through such uncertainty and emptiness before having to deal with a critical situation. As the lights dimmed, there was an unexpected greeting from a bride on the staircase to the left of the audience. She came around to all sides of the audience and thanked us for being there for her since she was very nervous and could use the support. She made the part believable: it was her wedding day, and she of course had a lot on her mind. At one point, she was even asking the audience members if her dress was buttoned in the back all right. She went to the point of sitting on audience members’ laps and giving hugs as she thanked individuals for being there. She was captivating, sometimes comical, and very charming. The bride walked back towards the dance floor, and suddenly she was very anxious. The lights dimmed, and about a dozen more brides and a couple grooms entered the dance floor. They walked solemnly and slowly, either dressed in under garments, slips, or a thin white or off white dress. The dancers looked nervously around them with a sense of vagueness and hesitation. Couples started to dance together to Ingrid Michelson’s song “Giving Up” using light partnering. There was gentleness to the movement, including small lifts with the dancers’ knees tucked up underneath them as they were being moved from one side of another dancer to the other. There were small lunges and legs in attitude tilting front and back. There was fluidity in the movement quality, and a great connection between the dancers as you heard the lyrics in the background singing “I am giving up.”
The brides were then huddled together, moving forward as a group and one by one a single bride would try to break free, just to be swiftly caught and brought back into the huddle. There was no escaping the situation and the fight to break away was impossible. Friends would try to put the bridal gown on individual brides, and the more they were being helped to get dressed and ready for this big occasion, the more they rebelled and tried to get away from it all. The many brides came forward to the audience and started talking to us all at once, even though the sense was more that they were talking to themselves. They expressed bits and pieces of information about rescheduling, it being too important to sleep through, or missed emails.
The piece concluded with a freer atmosphere, as one dancer did a waltz on her own about the stage, with small jumps and airy turns in-between. As she continued to move across the dance floor, some brides and grooms partially undressed as if they were giving in to their thoughts and decided not to go through with a marriage they don’t feel is going to work. However, a handful of brides lined up in the back, holding their elbows as if holding flowers, and were facing this doubtful situation nonetheless.
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by Victoria Dombroski
Another part of the dance included a definite state of panic between the brides and grooms. There was a lot of sliding to the floor and pushing themselves around, ending in the fetal position or sitting with their head down in despair. There were many glances towards their hands symbolizing the feeling of a ring being there, doubtful of whether or not it should be there perhaps. They would clasp their own hands together with tension just to let go again and fall to the floor. A duet was then danced to a song called “Fidelity” by Regina Spektor, and these dancers portrayed extreme discomfort with whatever last minute thoughts were consuming their minds. There were a lot of hands running through hair in distress, and throwing themselves to the floor after what looked like nausea and uneasiness. 
There was an interesting duet between one bride and a groom that was danced as another groom talked about positive and negative aspects of marriage or the relationship. As he would say phrases like “flowers for no reason,” or “breakfast in bed,” there would be a beautiful lift in arabesque or a leap into his arms. As he was say negative aspects like “dirty socks on the floor” or “being late for dinner” the bride would be dropped to the floor and she would slide and struggle to get up. He emphasized the words “miscommunication” in-between almost every set of words. It was a vivid contrast using the culmination of words, movement, and emotion.