First the dancers seemed to be swiping invisible metrocards, then wound up at the side of the stage peering into the distance waiting for something to come — a train in the literal, something/anything else in the abstract.

While the majority of the company was assembled there, a quartet of dancers appeared on the other side of the stage in a gorgeous improvisation. The stationary dancers reached out to them but stayed put, as if they wanted to break free from their routine but could not.

Later, while the Xerox machine-like light rolled overhead, a trio of danced beautifully in and out of the copier light above them. While they were being “copied,” they resisted copying each other. This was one of my favorite parts of the piece, and Jon Bond was great in it (as were Acacia Scachte and Soonji Choi.)

Machine and traffic noises started the piece, but it concluded with a single dancers’ flowing movemengts to the sound of an acoustic piano. To me, this was another pretty clear representation of the dance’s intent: the human spirit triumphing over routine, machine, and expectation.

The Copier was one of the best things I’ve seen all year.

I thought that was also driven home by the way a dancer would start a pattern, another would look at him, join him, then the original dancer at one point would touch the copying dancer’s hand, the human contact ending the replication, or the synchronized movement, and creating instead a kind of sensuous pas de deux. But this is something we’ve all seen before in dance — synchronized movement of an ensemble, combined with various pas de deux — so I don’t know if that alone would have made me think of the way replication can affect human contact and connection. I think her stated goal in her press release made me come to that conclusion there. Although… I may have got that from the title of the work combined with the excellent ceiling light manoeuver as well.

I’ve started paying more attention to press releases because a book critic recently told me you should judge a work of art by how well the artist meets his or her own stated goal, rather than trying to decide whether they met your own personal expectations. It made sense to me; seems to make critiquing not SO subjective.

Thanks for asking such a great question!

It’s also interesting you weren’t sure if the girl next to you was a dancer or not! I would have followed her, hehe, and started dancing. Then you’d make people around you wonder if YOU were a cedar lake dancer. The pictures are fun too, especially seeing audience members standing around the dancers. It must be the first time for a lot of people, to see dancers dancing that up close.