Educational Media Reviews Online

Equilibrium: Dance & Percussion Duo documents the thirty seven year collaboration between composer/percussionist Michael Udow and choreographer/dancer Nancy Udow. While the abstract and experimental nature of the duo’s work may not appeal to all viewers, the Udows’ articulate interviews and commentary tracks for their performances will make this DVD a useful resource for college courses in music, dance or theater.

The DVD begins with an interview of the Udows about the basis of their work. Since the start of their partnership as students at the University of Illinois in 1970, Michael and Nancy Udow have explored the nature of collaboration between choreographers and composers. Their work, as observed collectively on this DVD, seems to ask, what is the relationship between percussion and dance?

The ten works documented on this DVD explore the artists’ respective roles as percussionist/composer and dancer/choreographer. An example of this is in the work Stepping on Stars (1996). Here, both members of Equilibrium dance identical movements in order to represent the overlapping roles of percussion and dance, as the Udows explain through the commentary track. Other topics discussed in interviews and commentary tracks range from a decision to use a 16th triplet rhythm in one work, to the types of drums used, to a reading of a John Updike poem that forms the basis of one piece. The wide range of artistic elements described shows all the planning and artistic intent behind the final performed work shown in the performance documentation. For this reason, Equilibrium: Dance & Percussion Duo is recommended for academic libraries serving students of the performing arts.