Borderlines

Choreography by Graham Lustig
Music by Steve Martland - Crossing the Border
Lighting recreated by Alexander V. Nichols
Costumes by Graham Lustig

World Premiere April, 1995 by Sacramento Ballet

In Graham Lustig's Borderlines, the curtain rises on an empty stage dressed with a black scrim across the back, two pipes hung with lights resting near the floor, and black fabric wings.  In silence, the two principals enter from opposite sides and deliberately walk to the center of the stage.  Rich and compelling, the opening cords of Steve Martland's Crossing the Border accompany the initial duet.  Their movements are controlled, full-bodied and sensual rather than emotional.  Three moments of tranquility interrupt the action, each one accompanied by a duet or quartet half seen behind the black scrim.

At various points in this duet the two lighting pipes are slowly drawn up to their normal heights. The next interruption of the opening duet finishes with the principals entwined at center, the black cloth wings and the black scrim flying out to reveal the unfinished back wall of the theatre, and the entrance of the corps, men from upstage right and women from downstage left.  As these four couples take the stage, they join the principals as men and women move in opposition on an empty stage.

Duets and quartets develop themes of living with borders; both within and without. There are the literal strictures of the stage - the lighting pipes, the scrim, and wings, and then there are the barriers the dancers create for themselves and those around them.  The struggle to be free of these borders, to have control of the borders around them, to fly above these borders, and ultimately to leave all borders behind pulls the audience into this work with its purposeful blend of both modern and classical techniques.

The women exit in a rapid series of ensemble turns and are followed in quick succession by a male solo, duet, and and trio which lead into the work's hair raising finale. As the other five couples gradually recede into the back reaches of the stage, the principal dances a final duet to the last eerie minutes of the score. The scrim drops to obscure the ensemble in the back, followed by the wings and lighting pipes.  The physical boundaries on the space return and the main curtain begins to lower as the desperate intensity of the last duet builds. At last, with the curtain a few feet above the stage, the dancers slide forward to block its path to the floor, finally asserting control over the space around them and symbolically their lives as a whole.

Return to Repertory List