Knotted, Released, Caught, Fraught: Noli Timere at Emerson Cutler Majestic

Art, movement and music can come together in a multitude of ways. In dance, art as scenery, music and lighting support the movement and set a tone. In art, how the people move around or within an art installation is a dance of sorts. Music is consumed in a space that is often art as architecture or in a setting where the space is just a plane for movement by the audience. In Noli Timere, the art, movement and music are taking the stage together: a three part harmony. I was invited to Noli Timere and I am so glad I was able to witness this work. Being human can be difficult to process. Being a thoughtful, feeling person in the world right now is heavy. Art helps us free-fall a little, catch oneself, and digest it all a little more easily.

Noli Timere is playing at the Emerson Cutler Majestic through Sunday, February 1st. It is a one hour performance suitable for all ages. Noli Timere is latin for “be not afraid” some words worth contemplating on their own, but a phrase greatly enriched by the movement, visual ebb and flow, and sonic, emotional landscape created.

If you have been in Boston a while, you may remember Janet Echelman’s aerial sculpture As If It Were Already Here, which was suspended over the Rose Kennedy Greenway from May to October in 2015. In Noli Timere, the sculpture comes alive. It is both a static set and a moving prop. It is floor and sky. It is a web the dancers are entangled in and move freely across. The sculpture is scaffolding, planes, dimensions, and at times a seemingly two-dimensional surface with colours evoking emotions on their own.

The dancers rise and fall, catch and release, enmesh and set free. They move with caution and chaos. This ebb and flow of movement along with the rise and fall of tension in the sounds created by Jorane on cello, vocals and water-phone keeps you engaged and invested. At one point, I found the volume of the music overshadowed the movement, and I would have loved to feel the emotion and tension from the movement within the sculpture but it was already heightened by the sheer volume of the music.

At some point, the scene felt like looking up at a three dimensional living fresco on a cathedral ceiling. Other times, the bodies felt like 3d models on a curve grid. People on different planes living parallel lives, opposing movement and synchronized movement, reflections, actions and reactions were all represented in the piece. Choreographer Rebecca Lazier had wide sweeping brushstrokes and tiny precise details in the choreography. It felt so human and relatable. You didn’t have to think if you didn’t want to. You could just take in the movement and feel the piece.

Noli Timere is latin for “be not afraid” and this work by these three talented artists, choreographer Rebecca Lazier, visual artist Janet Echelman and musician Jorane took all the knotted up fear I feel being human in this world at this moment and shook the threads free for a little while. There are only a total of five performances at Emerson Cutler Majestic. Tickets start at $27.50 and can be purchased here.