A Physical Wreck

Black Label Movement artistic director Carl Flink's new piece, "Wreck," is a rough, dangerous work in more ways than one. "Wreck" imagines what it's like to be trapped in an ore boat that is sinking to the bottom of Lake Superior. He imagines it poetically, not literally, through dance that doesn't imitate the work of sailors, but instead creates a similar risk and physicality.

Hurtling through the air, flying headlong into each other's arms, and straining so hard that audiences will feel the shaking in their own limbs, BLM's strong dancers get plenty of hang-time. But unlike most other dance pieces, "Wreck" balances its beauty with visible sweat and exhaustion.

Why does Flink pursue risk in this way? Early experiences in sports left him with a lifelong appreciation for the unexpected. "I miss the days of running along a soccer field and someone slamming into me without me knowing," he says. For Flink, risky dance is more authentic dance. "The random nature of being crashed into is very much our living experience," he says. "It's not that our life is that way all the time, but to not ever go there leaves the dance space slightly removed from who we are."

Flink's athletic choreography also keeps him close to his inspiration for "Wreck." Both his father and uncle worked in ore boats on the Great Lakes. Flink had always enjoyed their stories, but a recent trip to Duluth left him with a deeper impression of the forces at work—giant boats, huge machinery, and hundreds of humans in control, but also in constant danger.

After all, there's only one way for "Wreck" to end: the sailors use up their air, the walls close in, the exhausted dancers sink to the floor. But Flink wants to "find a true sense of hope" in the vivid living experience before the end. After all, death closes all lives—it's the work beforehand that matters. Jan. 11-20. The Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Mpls., 612-340-1725