Volume CXXXII, Number 4 October 4, 2002 f

Close Calls on stage
GYLLIAN CHRISTIANSEN
STAFF WRITER

"I mean, it's not 'Riverdance,'" said Gretchen Berg of "Close Calls & Near Misses," a faculty dance performance that went up last weekend in the Wish Theater. The show featured a modern dance trio: Gretchen Berg, Gwyneth Jones and Paul Sarvis, three members of the Bowdoin faculty.

Through pose, play and repetition, Berg, Jones and Sarvis explore the physical language of calls and near misses. They pause and reflect upon what a close call can invoke, even years later when it has become clouded in the detachment of a well-worn, oft told, favorite story. More than anything, "Close Calls & Near Misses" is about storytelling. It is about employing all the tools available to a storyteller.

Having worked together for more than 15 years, Berg, Jones, and Sarvis began collaborating long before any of them had become Bowdoin faculty members. Before arriving on campus, they ran dancing workshops and gave special presentations across the country, one of which was "museum pieces," a show that took place at the Fogg Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The trio attributes their collaborative longevity to the process of creation that they employ in their art. "We generally start with a theme, or an idea," said Berg. "We all write about what it means to us, and how we see it. What we do is very much a collaboration." Through this collaborative method, their work has "become more and more abstract, veering closer to the edge of performance art and non-narrative theater."

The narrative elements of the production are skeletal, almost teasing. They lay out stories, and the trio is determined to let movement do the talking. At just under 35 minutes, and with three skilled and independent performers often occupying the stage simultaneously, the production captures the whirlwind of near misses and close calls. Berg, Jones and Sarvis explore the numerous near misses that never make it into our storytelling. They are interested in what occurs when our backs are turned, wanting to examine
the different ways a close call can present itself ( be it a falling anvil or merely a doomed relationship).