Related Features
IMPRESSIONS: Audrey MacLean Performance Projects' "The Dance Show" at Arts on Site
IMPRESSIONS: Cornfield Dance in "Scrambled Stages" at Arts on Site
SUMMER IMPRESSIONS: Obremski/Works at Arts on Site
By Cecly Placenti
View Profile |
More From This Author
Published on September 26, 2025
Photo by McCall McClellan
Artistic Director: Jesse Obremski
Choreography: Michaella Ho, Jesse Obremski, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau
Company: Kyla Balser, Ian Debono, Blu Furutate, Tiare Keeno, Nouhoum Koita, Mayu Nakaya, Richard Sayama, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Eleanor Simmons, and Zack Sommer
July 18, 2025
For me, summer is a time of rest and rejuvenation, but also a time of invigoration and recalibration. As a teacher, it marks the closing of a year, a chance to exhale and own my time again. As an artist, summer offers me renewed momentum and energy. I dance more, create more, and dive deeper into new work without distraction or fragmentation. I love summer for the feelings of unburdening, aliveness, and freedom it brings.
New York’s summer dance calendar mimics my rhythm — a mix of relaxation and momentum, formality and casualness. Audiences can sit in air-conditioned theaters or gather in sweaty groups outside. The energy is alive with discovery, renewal and beauty. Although there is always so much to see, this summer was a time to consciously unplug, even from the things I love. I saw less dance, eschewed scheduled commitments in favor of spontaneous adventures, and got closer to work I am in the process of creating. I couldn’t stay away from the theatre completely, however, and found myself in the audience for two special performances.
Obremski/Works returned to Arts on Site for their annual summer performance series, featuring new works by Artistic Director Jesse Obremski as well as the company’s first commissioned work by company member Jie-Hung Connie Shiau. I was in the audience for their inaugural performance in the summer of 2024, and enjoy seeing the company again today.
Obremski’s Opportunity opens with a family portrait: two dancers embracing, with a third one seated, leaning against them. As one performer leaves, another takes her place. So begins a kaleidoscope of shifting bodies, as arms reach out in vain to hold someone, yet gather only the air. The familial tableau reappears with one dancer always being physically removed from the invisible frame. Sometimes the dancers are left cradling the space where a body should be, drawing attention to its absence. At other times, they adjust to make a portrait with whomever is there.
As the performers travel in and out of shapes, their larger movements occur in waves. Their gestures of reaching and receding are not desperate, rather disappointed, melancholy — as if longing for something vital just out of reach. Obremski’s textured, buoyant choreography uses suspension and release to soothe. His Opportunity stood out as the most cohesive work in the program.
Two in-process solo works offered a sneak peek into the company’s upcoming evening-length work, Coloratura US, to premiere at Culture Lab LIC in November. Mayu Nakaya dances with a letter clutched in her hands, her eyes fixed on it as she spins and lunges. The letter represents an absent partner Nakaya clearly has strong feelings for- her movement a soulful prayer. Fluctuating between angst and longing, her supple limbs reach into space then recoil in turmoil, pushing and slashing at unwanted emotion.
Richard Sayama’s subsequent solo hints at the contents of Nakaya’s letter. Sayama leans against a table, pushing off violently, then sinking into it with resignation. His explosive movements carry an anxiety of their own, the table, a fixed object which seems to pull Sayama to it against his will. He performs gestures of holding a rifle, aiming it with purpose before flinging his body into the air in defiance. Dressed in khaki pants and a white t-shirt under an open, drably-colored shirt, Sayama resembles a soldier in his barracks, conflicted and thinking of his place in another life. He finally sits down and begins to write a letter, suddenly jumping up to point his invisible rifle or dive for cover under the table.
We believe he could be a father or a husband, sent to war, taken from Nakaya, leaving her with only letters to bridge the worlds between them. Both Sayama and Nakaya command the stage with their captivating commitment. I look forward to seeing the complete work this fall.
Obremski’s mission of uplifting new voices is evidenced in the company’s VOYAGER Fellowship, a program that offers opportunities to artists undergoing their O-1 Visa process. This year, recipient Michaella Ho presented how's it going to end? a meditative reflection on human interaction. Three dancers perform sculptural solos simultaneously, their movements related but not the same. Shapes and gestures echo from body to body with a similarity that prompts recognition, yet provides intriguing contrast. In the end, the dancers part and take their opening positions, far from one another, leaving audiences to wonder where their relationship is going.
Shiau’s How to Make a Really Cool Frog evoked systems breaking down and being put back together. Shiau’s movement quality is enchanting — tactile and distorted, then suddenly boneless and fluid. Her clear exploration of cause and effect, along with a score that sounded like clanking metal, emphasized the image of machinery in flux. The athleticism of the performers coupled with Shiau’s throughline of dismantling and rebuilding drew me in. However, during the 17-minute work, four different pieces of music were used, not including a section in silence and one set to spoken instructions on how to create a balloon frog. These sonic shifts felt disjointed and distracted my attention.
Regardless, Obremski/Works’ second summer season establishes the young company as an incubator for risk-taking and the nurturing of new voices, something vital to our field.
