Kidd Pivot/Electric Company Theatre

Betroffenheit, the collaboration between Kidd Pivot/Electric Company Theatre, presented by Whitebird Dance at the Newmark Theatre in Portland Saturday night, pushed at odd angles through territory that at times felt dank, or prickly, hot and then cold. The audience was at times arrested, cajoled, invigorated and perhaps browbeaten. This was not namby-pamby dance for its own sake, nor was it theater alone, but a hybridization that, though not consistently successful, whatever that means, was at least doing something new.

Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathan Young, the work plumbed the traumatic history and personal experience of Mr Young, who wrote the work, and who also served as the piece’s lead performer. Young has an affable, inviting style, a naturalism onstage, inviting the audience into his fettered, tortured world, a place ripe with imagination and the nuances of failures and failing.

As choreographer and director, Pite extracts the ironic, bullying gestalt from Classical forms, teasing out the sinister rhythms in a jazzy turnout or a seemingly innocuous tap dance routine. Her vision juxtaposes crusty sideshow entertainers with the salty walls of some institution (maybe it’s the protagonist’s mind? Ah, art…) and the language around recovery and “healing”.

The effort brought out plenty of food for thought, and was expertly performed. Kidd Pivot’s dancers are uniformly strong, infusing each moment with clarity and determination. Tiffany Tregarthen’s reptilian deep knee bends, and her disjointed, broken carriage, Golum-like, are haunting with or without the tiny clown hat. (The clown hat sends it over the top.) Jermaine Spivey is also electric as Young’s “co-host” counterpart.

Perhaps the closeness to the source material rendered the editing process a challenge, but too often, ideas pooled into eddies, or followed little rivulets until they lost momentum. This pacing seemed more a challenge from the theatrical side, as if the stage would repeatedly swell up with water, only to drain away. I wanted to see the heightened pressure of continual growth, deeper and more thorough exploration.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!