Give Me Your Number

Nirmala Nataraj | SF Weekly | September 12, 2007

Erika Chong Shuch is a choreographer as comfortable with metaphors as she is with everyday life. The poetics of the extraordinary and the familiar often exist side by side in Shuch's work: You're as likely to see some ruminations on deep space as you are an exploration of good ol' prosaic heartbreak. Her company, the Erika Shuch Performance Project, presents 51802, a new piece that's full of allegorical spindrift but palpably connected to social issues. The title mirrors the anonymity and facelessness of life behind bars and examines bondage, both physical and spiritual, among incarcerated people. Shuch's lissome yet approachable dancers create rich characters with the assistance of music, song, and text. Magic-realist sequences, love letters, and achingly gorgeous musical interludes relay tales of people estranged from incarcerated lovers, family members, and friends. Shuch's evocative tug-of-war between connection and detachment asks deep questions regarding the nature of liberty, but it's the intense portrayal of human longing that'll send shivers up the viewer’s spine.

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