Michael S. Rosenwald explains why you can't escape the gravitational field of Five Guys, a local burger phenomenon, "a little joint with all the charm of an RFK Stadium bathroom."

I went to the Outer Banks in January, looking for local cuisine. But there at Mile Marker 9 was Five Guys.

posted: 10:03:05 PM  

The company brings three pieces spanning the career of the experimental choreographer Cunningham, and they reveal how consistent his aesthetic has been over the period. Presented last but created first, Sounddance (1975, restaged 2003) achieves its effect by accumulation. Once the last of the ten dancers has entered, through a pouchy backdrop upstage, we realize that to this point, no one has exited. And shortly thereafter, the company forms a line and then one by one exits through the same backdrop, leaving Robert Swinston, who began the piece alone, to close it. A squorky electronic score by David Tudor keeps things moving.

Fabrications (1987, restaged 2002) is the "prettiest" of the pieces, if one may be forgiven that word. The arms are held softly, there are numerous circle patterns on the floor, and the mood is light. Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta's Short Waves, performed by Takehisa Kosugi, is a soaring wash of sound overlaid with AM radio crosstalk.

The evening leads off with the newest composition, Views on Stage (2004). The avant garde elements— skirts and halters worn by both men and women, Cunningham's signature disconnect between music and movement—cannot obscure the fact that there is a lot of classical vocabulary in his work. Like Lego bricks squeezed together in near-impossible configurations, we see pointed toes, port de bras arms (even if severely arced, with flat hands), poses in attitude, a flash of partnering. John Cage's ASLSP and Music for Two provide the perfect accompaniment for this piece. The huge gaps between notes in ASLSP ([As SLow(ly) and Soft(ly) as Possible], a 1985 composition for piano or organ solo) allow coughs from the audience to escape into the air, a pertussive percussion that becomes part of the music.

Seriously, there is one audience member—must be a subscriber, I always hear the cough from the same place in the middle of the orchestra—whose singular whooping hack should be recorded by the Smithsonian.

posted: 4:04:05 PM