gloATL shifts gears with This is a World

• http://clatl.com/atlanta/ImageArchives?by=1223504
• gloATL will perform “This is a World” at the Goat Farm, Feb 4-5.

The dancers of gloATL don’t seem to learn movements from Lauri Stallings so much as absorb them. She gives gentle, surreal directives. “Throw your arms back, as if you’ve been shot in the back by a friend. It’s a friendly shot, a loving shot.” It sounds absurd to me, but I’m surprised when I see her dancers do it. Convincingly

The group is in the process of creating their new piece This is a World in a downstairs rehearsal room of Symphony Hall. There is soft music playing from a computer hooked into a speaker, but the company is not dancing to the music: They seem not to notice it. They are learning a phrase of movement, piece by piece. “It’s simple,” Stallings says. It’s far from simple, but there’s something earnest and encouraging in her voice that convinces me maybe it could be simple. She demonstrates and then watches her dancers try. They match her movements, those surreal intentions and odd little impulses, even her sharp exhalations. It’s as if something has passed from her body to theirs. “Uh-huh. That’s all it is,” she says. “It’s super-simple.”

Stallings offers me a cherry tomato from a big box of them and suggests we find a place to talk so the dancers can take a break. She leads me up a stairwell and through a series of corridors—the Arts Center is deserted—and then points through a doorway, suggesting we talk in there. I head towards a seat, and only after a moment do I realize we’re on the stage of Symphony Hall. I look out on a sea of empty, red-velvet chairs, row after row, up to the highest balcony.