Press Play cues up electric energy By Kelsey Dundon Vancouver's Georgia Straight Publish Date: 23-Jun-2005 Press Play the Fifth A Science Friction Arts Society presentation, cosponsored by the Vancouver East Cultural Centre's Youth Program. At the Vancouver East Cultural Centre on Friday, June 17. No remaining performances They're supposed to be two wayward journeymen, but when the nearly naked, bald-headed Thomas Anfield and Kevin Bergsma enter the stage with hunched backs, bent knees, and partly clenched fists, they almost resemble babies in the womb. However, if these Dantesque figures are infantlike in any way, they would be fathered by an incubus: there is something underworldly about them. Part of Press Play the Fifth, a Science Friction production featuring three pieces by local choreographers, The Monkey's Mask is daring-and not just because it features men in tiny thongs. Anfield and Bergsma's lumbering movements are infused with captivating energy. Set to the jarring sounds of Butoh-A-Go-Go's original multi-instrumental score, Mask is as deceptively simple as the haikus of the Japanese poet Basho, on which it's based. In the beginning the pair, who formed Butoh-A-Go-Go in 1999, move their mouths like cows chewing cud. Then a dark froth-under the red lights it looks like clotted blood-oozes from the dancers' mouths onto their bodies and the floor. How perfect that the next piece opens with a janitor pushing his mop across the stage. Science Friction's Sweeping the Waiting Room consists of four vignettes, each broken up by the janitor. The first features co- choreographers Farley Johansson, dressed as a bike courier, and Shannon Moreno, wearing business attire, standing under a rectangular spotlight denoting an elevator. They awkwardly stare up at the ceiling before breaking into a duet that has elements of swing and phrases that could have been inspired by two teens at a Grade 8 dance. Then they pause, stare at the ceiling again, and repeat. Monica Proenca appears in the balcony next, drink in hand. She sways for a moment like a boxer who's just gotten up from a knockout, looks down at the stage, then clambers down the staircase to take a seat in the “waiting room”. Proenca, a hilarious ham, removes her high heels, chucks them behind her, and begins to move with all the grace of an intoxicated dancer before she is literally dragged off-stage. Then the electric Jojo Zolina joins Johansson for a hip-hop- and capoeira-filled piece, set to Salmonella Dub's reggae trip-hop. In the final sketch, all four dancers fall into a tangle of duets that's not nearly as memorable as the others. The dynamic Trixie & Snack, which is as cute as its name, launches Press Play. Dressed in matching black tank tops, striped pants, and green sunglasses, Jennifer Clarke and Tanya Podlozniuk almost look like red-headed mirror images of each other. But they do their best work when the duet is broken up, one sitting in the audience to watch the other perform a solo. It's a shame this dance, choreographed by Clarke and Caroline Liffman, is smothered by the power of the other productions. Still, Press Play makes you want to hit Rewind and watch it all over again. Publication: Vancouver Sun; Date:2005 Jul 16; Section:Arts&Life; Page Number: D10