Benjamin Warbis and the other talented dancers in Michael Clark’s “Who’s Zoo?” are on for a too-short 45 minutes. (Paula Court)
The Whitney Biennial likes to shock, and so does Michael Clark. Back in Thatcher’s England, the British choreographer, now 49, set his dances to punk rock and put Hitler mustaches on his female dancers.
But there are no such unpleasant surprises in “Who’s Zoo?,” his piece for the Whitney — just a tasty mix of cool-as-a-cucumber dance and hot tunes, all from Brit rocker Jarvis Cocker and his bands Pulp and Relaxed Muscle.
There aren’t any seats for the show in the vast, bare fourth floor of the museum, but you can sit on the floor or ask for a stool. Six gorgeous dancers, clad at first in shiny orange unitards, are surrounded by a crowd of volunteers in black workout gear. The dancers move among and through them, sometimes doing the same simple steps.
The volunteers sit and watch before moving in rigorous lockstep and formation like zombies. It’s almost threatening, but they’re just benign amateurs. It’s endearing to pick out the klutzes. The pros are leggy specimens, and when they change into black and silver unitards, they look like androids. The tallest, Harry Alexander, looks like a giraffe but soars like a gazelle. For a tantalizing moment, he even wears pointe shoes that make him even taller, though as hobbled as if he had his feet bound.
Clark’s moves derive from Merce Cunningham, but he’ll throw in a trick or two from his training at the Royal Ballet — here, a woman is pressed overhead in a classical lift. Toward the end, the dancers re-enter in a line with their hands on each other’s shoulders, popping their hips. It’s the bunny hop, only done by experts. A few times, Clark skulks about in a black hoodie. Sometimes he’s nearly invisible, but other times moves solo or shadows one of the dancers.
The dancing’s gorgeous, but “Who’s Zoo?” ends abruptly after 45 minutes, as if someone switched on the lights and told us to go home. It’s the only misstep in an otherwise great avant-garde dance party.