Arabesque in Blue

Dancer Mee Ae walks in front of the audience and appears onstage, her face chalked out and eyes and lips black-rimmed. She's wearing a top hat and her breasts are slightly exposed above the upper rim of a tight corset.

So starts Musée des Femmes: Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, a lyrical exploration of interesting women from fiction and history, playing at the Zipper Factory on West 37th St., NYC.  Desert Sin's Djahari Clark is the director, producer co-choreographer, and performs two of the segments.   

Over six very different set pieces (with Ae as ringmaster), Clark creates a feast of erotic and playful dance that celebrates these iconic figures.  Clearly Djahari Clark loves women, and each piece highlights a sensuality that is strong yet distinctly feminine.   

Renata portrays a silent era Mata Hari.  Cassandra Siegler portrays the Snow Queen and the Little Mermaid, the latter dancing on a sea of broken glass.  And Clark portrays both the dancer in 'The Red Shoes' and, in the most dramatic segment, Saint Joan. 

It's interesting that Clark picks two Hans Christian Anderson stories, because, despite the erotic elements, all the pieces have a colorful storybook quality, like an elaborate children's book.

In the most show stopping piece, Mawiyah Raquel, Cashel Sapphire and Gisela play the Hindu triple goddess Kali, replete in blue makeup with glittering costumes.  But the sly Ae steals the show, especially in a shocking piece of business in which blood gushes from her mouth. 

The choreography by Clark and Elayssa is playful and inventive, but the show is brought to life by the excellent production, particularly the amazing sound design by Daniel Colman and Joseph of Windows to Sky and in the costume design by Clark, Elayssa, Tatianna, Siegler, Sue Nice, Jason Savvy and Jessica Westbrook.

-- Tom Penketh

Corrections: Djahari Clark and Daniel Colman's names were misspelled in the original post, but are now correct.  Also, we added Joseph of Windows to Sky to the sound design team.   

Comments

[a fan :)]

Hi! Nice review!

I wanted to point out the correct spellings of Djahari Clark's name, as well as Daniel Colman (no e). Also, the sound design is actually by Joseph of Windows to Sky, though Daniel Colman's sound effects are featured prominently.

This is an amazing show!