Leah Stein Dance Co.
June 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17, 6:30 p.m., Eastern State Penitentiary, 2124 Fairmount Ave.
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The hulking Eastern State Penitentiary was once an innovative facility that championed solitude and labor as the best route to a criminal's rehabilitation. Now a deteriorated ruin, it's a bountiful space for site-specific choreographer Leah Stein to examine the physical and psychological aspects of confinement. She drew inspiration from Eastern State's history, which, she notes, includes "corruption, horrible violent things and great humanity, too." However, she was primarily motivated by "the architectural structure in terms of memory and the resonance of it. ... There are two sides; the people in the cells and the guards."
Eastern State's design — cell blocks radiate from a central rotunda like spokes on a wheel — presented Stein with the ability to situate dancers and musicians along multiple pathways. Meanwhile (without giving too much away), she devised a surprising format so that audience members explore a variety of spaces in unpredictable fashion. The multifaceted plan poses an exceptional challenge for the performers: "Everyone has different pathways," Stein explains. "It's composed in terms of time and space and intricate relationships and cues and simultaneity. It's a big network of activity behind the scenes."
Stein's choreography often evokes a sense of freedom, expansion and exploration, though here it includes phrases to imply confinement and repetition, the latter being a metaphor for the idea that "it's the same thing every day ... it's about marking time." Likewise, the title of this piece, Gate, is allegorical. Stein relates, "The word has multiple associations, as in boundary, locked or unlocked, or the implication of going through something. ... My idea is that you're different on the other side."
Gate, June 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17, 6:30 p.m., $10-$15, Eastern State Penitentiary, 2124 Fairmount Ave., 215-438-2688, www.leahsteindance.org.
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