As for the movement, “Attractor” has twitching and flailing in abundance, but those do not a ritual make. From the start, this production, performed by the company Dancenorth Australia, felt aspirational — and at times, too thin.
Part of the Australia Festival, a showcase of three companies at the Joyce Theater — the festival continues with the Australian Ballet and Australian Dance Theater — “Attractor” attempts to show how music and dance can work in tandem to create a trance state. Yet it seems to be so choreographed and controlled. Especially the first half.
“Attractor” begins with the performers and musicians taking their seats on stools on a darkened stage. Joined by vocalist Rully Shabara and instrumentalist Wukir Suryadi, the dancers slowly, almost imperceptibly, jerk and twist while rising to their feet. Here, in stuttered starts and stops, they create a rippling mass of agitated limbs.
That kind of movement is a common sight throughout, but it doesn’t come close to abandon. More intriguing is the ominous sonic landscape, created both by Suryadi’s homemade instruments — sounds range from delicate strings to the roar of an engine — and Shabara’s guttural, gravelly voice.
The dancers cluster into unison formations and break free, but after a time this repeated structure seems more monotonous than daring. It’s not that the dancers aren’t committed or adept; a solo of rapid body isolations by Samantha Hines displays her decisive articulation as she mirrors the strange, haunting sounds of Shabara’s vocalizations.
But there remains a disconnect between the music and the dance: The lasting impression is more slick than primal. Had the music switched to a pop song, the dancing might have fit right into a music video.
In the second half, strange sounds started erupting within the audience: Were people shaking cans of coins? Eventually, the noise-making spectators — 17 in all and wearing headsets — joined the eight dancers onstage. (They had been rounded up in advance of the performance and were briefed an hour before the show.)
They walked and ran in circles, eventually echoing the convulsive, restless moves of the dancers. At one point, as in a Zumba class — and nothing against Zumba — they followed along as the dancers demonstrated.
While the look of the stage was improved greatly by more bodies, this follow-the-leader format did little to take “Attractor” to another level. Ohad Naharin, Jérôme Bel — choreographers whose use of amateur performers yields breathtaking results that you, in your audience-body, can actually feel — were too fresh in the mind. Where was the ritualistic exchange? Here we were divided by that familiar, invisible structure: the fourth wall.
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The Australia Festival runs through May 12 at the Joyce Theater, Manhattan; 212-242-0800, joyce.org.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.