The work captures the moment when seven people find themselves in the final watertight compartment in an ore boat that has just sunk to the bottom of Lake Superior. They careen back and forth against both the structure of the cell and each other as they struggle to come to grips with or deny the inevitable final moment that awaits them.
Photos: William Cameron
This dance for seven was the initial exploration that paved the way for the creation of Carl Flink’s in-progress evening length work Wreck, which will premiere at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis, MN January 11-20, 2008. The work captures the moment when seven people find themselves in the final watertight compartment in an ore boat that has just sunk to the bottom of Lake Superior. They careen back and forth against both the structure of the cell and each other as they struggle to come to grips with or deny the inevitable final moment that awaits them.
“[In compartment/cell] set inside the compartment of a sunken ship where seven crewmembers are trapped, Flink articulates a much noisier desperation. Confining dancers to a small area defined by several benches, he compresses the crewmembers like heroic working-class figures in a Diego Rivera mural, then sends them careening through the claustrophobic space.” – Linda Shapiro, St. Paul Pioneer Press, August 20, 2006.
“_Compartment/cell_, set inside a sunken ship where seven crew members are trapped, combines springy athleticism and stark imagery. Set to a driving and spooky score by Drew Gordon, the dance melds the riveting anxiety of Jean-Paul Sartre’s play No Exit with the high impact physicality and mayhem of West Side Story.” – Linda Shapiro, St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 2, 2005