FLIGHT TRIPTYCH
nytheatre.com review by Joseph Langham
August 15, 2002
Flight Triptych is a non-verbal solo performance piece by
Michelle Horacek. It’s described as magic and poetry, but I felt
it to be more modern dance circa early 1900s. I felt like the
first audience that saw Isadora Duncan perform: a bit lost.It is a relatively short and painless movement piece describing the evolution of a “creature”. The creature seemed to be stuck in the mud like a fish, then moved from water to land like a lizard, then discovered a go-go boot like a showgirl. It put on the go-go boot and began prancing around a bar stool, making sure that we knew it had a shapely body. There was some cigar smoking and booze drinking before it took off its boot and discovered flight in the form of a white feather boa. And that was about it. The set consisted of two Bed, Bath and Beyond style shower curtains, a barstool, and randomly placed objects for our creature to discover.
I found Horacek to be an engaging performer. There were moments of nice humor and instances of connection with the audience. One audience member, in particular, seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, swaying her head to and fro in mimicry of the performer. I, however, did not find my head swaying, but on more than one occasion found my shoulders shrugging. It’s safe to say that there are some audiences out there that might enjoy a work of this type. I was just simply unmoved.
