Garth Grimball
Blur, the solo choreographed and performed by Leslie Cuyjet at the 2026 State of Play festival, has many of the trappings associated with “downtown” dance in Manhattan. Cuyjet confronted the audience, the structure was improvisational, there was pre-recorded voice over and experimental ambient soundscape, the movement leaned towards an “anti-dance” attitude as if to say, “I’m not here to entertain you.” In lesser choreographic hands, these methods become tropes, commentary that says nothing but expects to be lauded for its own (self-perceived) distance from saying something. Cuyjet is no such choreographer.
Blur excelled in avoiding tropes and saying something specific because of choreographic craft not in spite of it. Cuyjet understands timing and rhythm as integral to tasks as much as to dancing. Dressed in a unitard screenprinted with photography of her nude body (a nipple rendered on her shoulder), she walked around the stage looking into and beyond the audience. The walking developed into turns and rolls on a similar path of the perimeter. A microphone on a stand at center stage was under a spotlight, visible in more detail than the performer. Her pre-recorded voice came through a sound of fog horns with questions like, “Maybe you want me to dance?” And, “How to be of service to your expectations?”
Expectations were subverted with humor as much as interrogation. Cuyjet walked to the microphone and every time she attempted to speak fuzzy feedback interrupted. From a paper bag she pulled a sandwich and ate a few bites, then a banana. She held the banana to her ear as a phone and was able to speak uninterrupted.
No action over-stayed its welcome. The progression of actions felt tangential and incidental in the moment; connective tissue formed in my mind hours later. Cuyjet walked off the stage abruptly. In silence two stage hands walked on. Was there a mistake being fixed? They brought out two chairs and Chloe Zimberg, ODC Theater creative director, walked on, followed by Cuyjet’s return, for a post-show Q&A. Applause and any commitment to a legible ending were hurdled over: no finish line, no conclusion.
Blur was not a middle finger to performance or dance or theatrical conventions. It did not evade expectations, it foregrounded them. Sometimes unmet expectations are not disappointments. Blur certainly wasn’t.
Garth Grimball is a writer and dancer based in Oakland, CA. He is a contributor to Fjord Review, SF Examiner and Dance Media. He is the editor of ODC Dance Stories.
Leslie Cuyjet Knows What You’re Expecting was originally published in ODC.dance.stories on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.