Dance might be the art form I love most and understand least. I’m so intrinsically clumsy that it’s like watching a magic trick I fall for every goddam time. “Oh my god, where did that rabbit come from?” I know a little more but I’m still that goofy, grinning mark.
The Wexner Center and Chuck Helm, in particular, shaped that interest from nothing into a real fire. Without that center being so close to me and having turned me onto so much music and film, I’m not sure I would have given modern dance a chance.
As Helm’s final season draws to a close – and don’t misunderstand, I’m very excited to see what Lane Czaplinski brings to the table – I’m trying to talk about what that era, that legacy, that place meant to me.
The modern dance double-bill coming to the Wex starting tomorrow is a prime example of Helm’s eye for the creme of the New York arts scene that a hip Columbus audience can embrace. The preview I wrote is too long but I’m pretty proud of most of it. And I can’t wait to see these two pieces.
Up at Columbus Underground.
Screen of Distance 