In rehearsal with contemporary dance company Kit Modus, guest choreographer Marco Palomino created an atmosphere that blended the exuberance of Mardi Gras with the warm hospitality of the global South, spiced with a base note of spooky surrealism. The score combined house-style techno with Latin and Caribbean influences, and the dancers contributed to the percussive beat by stamping and clapping, their swaying hips and loose torsos reflecting what Palomino draws from his Cuban roots.
Palomino’s world premiere The Portal is Always Open will close Kit Modus’ mixed rep program Friday and Saturday at the Windmill Arts Center. The bill also includes Mark Caserta’s PRETTYEND, created for the company in 2019, and a new work by Artistic Director Jillian Mitchell.
ArtsATL interviewed Palomino and Mitchell when the Cuban-born, Los Angeles-based choreographer was in residence with Kit Modus in September.
Palomino’s piece begins with an offering to engage and delight the senses followed by an invitation to join the dancers on stage as they give form to a carnivalesque world of wonder.
Some company directors might be nervous about breaching the fourth wall of the theater as Palomino does so completely in the new work — but not Mitchell. “I would never bring in a choreographer unless I trusted them completely,” she said. “I invite someone because I think they’re going to make something profoundly beautiful. The dancers and I want art; we want that experience of fully giving ourselves over to someone else’s vision.”
Palomino’s art includes commissioned works for dance companies, museums, film, immersive experience and live theater and has reached audiences nationally and internationally.
His choreography for The Portal is Always Open shares some qualities with Gaga and release technique but is nonetheless stunningly new. The…
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