by Michele Markarian
“Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic”. Created by Ayodele Casel. Directed by Torya Beard. Original Compositions and Music Direction: Crystal Monee Hall. Presented by American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle Street, Cambridge, through October 9.
It’s hard to imagine a more apropos season opener for American Repertory Theater than the joyful exuberance and shared fellowship of “Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic”. During the 70-minute performance of tap dance, the audience was held sway by the energy of the artists and the selfless way in which they shared their work.
“I live among superheroes. Tap dancers are superheroes. Musicians are superheroes,” Ayodele tells us. Her energy is infectious; her respect for her fellow performers, as well as her audience, is palpable. She grew up adoring the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, thinking that the world of dance was beyond the grasp of a Black and Puerto Rican daughter of the Bronx. Then she discovered other tap artists – Dianne Walker, Gregory Hines, Savion Glover. The rest is herstory.
Fifteen musical numbers comprise “Chasing Magic”. With the exception of a few luscious standards, the music is composed and arranged by the musical artists themselves, under the direction of the remarkable Crystal Monee Hall. The opener, “Scalular” composed by Arturo O’Farrill (who later accompanies Casel during a seemingly inexhaustible improvisation called “The Sandbox”), shows five dancers (Casel, Amanda Castro, Kurt Csolak, John Manzari, and Anthony Morigerato) dressed in trenchcoats, on different platforms, eventually coming together before spinning offstage. Tap garb is a lot more interesting than the shiny black patent leather shoes of my suburban dance lessons; I marveled at the different footwear of the artists that looked like streetwear and produced tones that added to the musicality of the evening.
Several numbers stand out during this outstanding repertoire, adeptly directed by Torya Beard. The dance pairing of Casel and Morigerato is magic, showcased in two numbers, “Fly Me to Moon” and “Cheek to Cheek”. Casel’s energy is sharp, kinetic, almost staccato, while the excellent Morigerato provides a grounding balance. Watching them together is a pleasure. “One, Two, Three, More…” is a beautiful number on friendship. Again, Casel’s choreography balances the strengths of the three dancers (Casel, Castro, and the lyrical Naomi Funaki), twining them in a pattern of individuality and dependence. “Bomba II” and “Meeting Place: Draft II”, original compositions by Keisel Jimenez and Casel, respectively, feature the versatile and sensual Amanda Castro, whose emotional, earthy turn in both numbers is beautifully, sometimes painfully moving to watch.
Casel herself is a force of nature. Her energy seems limitless, tossing off a jacket from one number and bounding onstage for another. During Casel’s solo turn in “Overjoyed”, I heard a woman behind me say, “I want to take tap”. “It’s not easy,” I wanted to say. “They just make it look that way”. Still, for a performance to encourage that kind of enthusiasm for the medium in a layperson is pretty special.
An equal force of nature is musical director Crystal Monee Hall. Her energy provides a calm ballast against the motion onstage, and her voice is gorgeous. One of my favorite numbers of the evening was an original composition called “Love Song”, in which the audience was invited to sing. The lyrics were simple and the tune manageable as we followed Hall’s singsong lines with our own warblings. In a kind of magical way, she included us in the circle started onstage, creating, for one evening, artists of us all. For tickets and information, go to: https://americanrepertorytheater.org/
