Ain’t Done Bad – A Theatrical Dance Experience – Marvelous
“… my love letter to anyone who has ever struggled with their identity, and it is a thank you note to everyone who helped me find my voice.”
Jakob Karr
Ain’t Done Bad – southern vernacular? – is the story of a gay son who, rejected by family, journeys to find his authentic self. Unless you read this, and look at the ID photos on your program, the piece is elusive until 95 percent through when the hero returns to what we then perceive as home, and is met with acceptance. It would be easy to mistake dancer Megumi Iwama for his lover or buddy (she’s his mom) and Adrian Lee for her lover (his dad) by dint of only dance.
Ian Spring, Jakob Karr, Adrian Lee, Megumi Iwama
As “the Son” travels, he dallies with men (Ian Spring, Adrian Lee, Josh Escover) and plays with friends Jordan Lombardi and Yusaku Komari. Despite naivete and confusion, nothing bad happens. (It might be more interesting and realistic if it did.) The hero finds true love (Josh Escover).
Dancing and choreography are simply wonderful. The company excels at showcasing Karr’s intention and technique as if they’d been working together for some time. At play, the hero and his friends move with abandon, cutting through pliant air space. Choreography often “throws” dancers as if shot out of a cannon. Energy whooshes across the stage. Successive steps/moves become medleys.
Yusaku Komori, Jordan Lombardi, Jakob Karr
When attracted and flirting, eyes lock. Proximity and suggestion rise like steam. Romance is clearly differentiated as discovery, tenderness, surprise. Making love is potently sexy (not raunchy). Originality of entwining is lovely and fluid, in contrast to group segments which are frequently sharp. That bodies are beautiful adds to aesthetic pleasure as well as theatricality.
Narrative is sustained with loosely connected songs by writer/performer Orville Peck. Music and baritone works well, though volume occasionally distorts lyric passages. I have no idea of the symbolism of a glitzy denim jacket and question Karr’s stripping down to tight skivvies without story motivation. That male dancers change costumes upstage in full view (never naked), however, feels in keeping.
Jakob Karr, Josh Escover
Dancer/choreographer Jakob Karr is unfamiliar to me. Evidently he’s spent his professional life in musicals with appearances in Cirque du Soleil and on So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Got Talent. It’s astonishing someone of this accomplishment hasn’t been working with a dance company.
Of the troop, Megumi Iwama and Adrian Lee are extraordinarily graceful and skilled at projecting emotion. Lee exudes power.
Scenic design – Philip Lupo, Joey Coombs, Blake Schulte – is handsome. Panels of weathered, broken wood boards evoke experience. Mirrors (on wheels) are an integral part of metaphor and choreography.
Lighting design by Philip Lupo is artful, evocative.
Photos by Matthew Murphy
Opening: Jakob Klarr and Company
Ain’t Done Bad – A Theatrical Dance Experience
Conceived, Choreographed and Directed by Jakob Karr
Featuring the Music of Orville Peck
Through September 1, 2024
The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street
