Weekend Excursion

Then again, the nude human form has also occupied a seedy, shady place in history, especially, when it's taken onstage and includes dance. You can decide into which of the follo-wing categories Harrows: A Slow Introduction fits. The exotic— or, at least, foreign (French) choreographer of the performance, Boris Charmatz, assures us that "with dance, nakedness hides more than it shows."

Whether or not he's right, this show shouldn't be reduced to its most obvious attraction. In his U.S. début, Charmatz uses contact improvisation (a method of throwing and catching another dancer's weight which developed in the `60s and early '70s), to maneuver his five dancers into a perfect knot. The ensuing juxtaposition of the flowing movement and then tense togetherness of the dancers doesn't seem at all out if place in Charmatz's piece, which proves a point (intentionally or not) about the restrictions our notions about the place of the human body place on art. —Diana M. Aleman

The dance will be performed Tues., Apr. 24 at 9 p.m. and Wed., Apr. 25 through Sat., Apr. 28 at 9 p.m. at The Kitchen Center for Video, Music, Dance, Performance, Film, and Literature. The Kitchen is located at 512 West 19th St., between 10th and 11th Avenues, in New York. For more information, call the Center at 212-255-5793.

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