It’s become an annual rite
of spring at the Joyce Theater: If it’s April, Stephen Petronio’s company is
there to unveil his latest work. But that doesn’t mean you should expect
something flowery or sunny. Petronio’s dances tend to flirt with danger and
desire, and his full-evening Underland,
set to music by Australian rocker Nick Cave, is a dense, eye-filling journey
that veers through unexpected twists and fills the stage with extremes, both in
terms of its movement and its projections.

The work premiered in 2003;
Petronio was commissioned by Sydney Dance Company to create a full-evening
dance. He was asked what it would take to get him to commit to a two-month
creative period in Sydney. “I just blurted out, ‘Anything with Nick Cave, and
I’ll be there!’” Petronio says by phone shortly after completing a day of
rehearsal with his 11-member company. “I love his music but hadn’t planned to
make a work to it. Someone like that is on your wish list of things to do. So
that was all I needed for inspiration. Then the concept came together very
quickly.”

He explains his attraction
to Cave’s songs, seven of which are used in Underland.
“Nick’s music is very dark and sexy, and a lot of my work has been very
sensually oriented. He’s a pop artist, but his music can be very dark. His
music swings back and forth between the grimy evil human spirit, and the
elevation and redemption of that psyche. That pull is a classic pull, and I
just love it. The murder ballads are beautiful celebrations of criminals, and
there’s one particular song I love, ‘The Mercy Seat,’ about preparation for
going to the electric chair. They’re some of the best rock ‘n’ roll you’ll ever
hear, deeply thoughtful and artistic.”

Petronio envisioned a very
specific world through the songs. “Underland
is a subterranean, post-apocalyptic, subconscious kind of place. I was making
the work shortly after 9/11, so I wanted to give you a place that was hidden
away, tucked underneath what was there before it. It starts with a descent into
that world. I definitely think of it as a place ‘below.’”

Cave approved the song
selection. “He actually questioned some of them. The conversation was lengthy
and it worked out beautifully. He gave me his longtime producer, Tony Cohen,
and through him we had access to all the instrumental tracks that went into
making the songs we chose. So we were able to use those original tracks any way
we wanted, to build bridges between the songs.”

The choreographer, who
formed his company in 1984 after dancing with Trisha Brown, described Underland as “a real meeting of
Australian and New York artists.” In addition to working with Cohen, Petronio
was introduced by SDC to Australian video artist Mike Daly. Working with
Petronio’s longtime lighting designer Ken Tabachnick, Daly responded to the
request for “a slow-moving world that the dance could travel through.”
Projected on a triptych of screens is an intensely volatile, evolving mix of
images.

Discussing SDC’s dancers,
Petronio says, “They have incredible classical training, but they are super
modern dancers. So they really upped the ante for me about what I can do based
on the vertical axis, which I don’t normally work with that much. They were
willing to go flying off of it, as well. My dancers are perfectly willing to
fly off their vertical axis, but they don’t really put such a stress on staying
on vertical. So there are differences, but my dancers look amazing in it. It’s
a lot of quick footwork—petit allegro—and
they can do it beautifully. Plus, they have the advantage of having the deep
understanding of the way I want torsos to twist and arc and splash around.”

SDC performed Underland for six seasons, touring it
all over Australia. The company performed it on a U.S. tour, but only in a
couple of cities. Petronio had nearly given up on ever having the work seen in
New York. But when a new director took the helm at SDC and the license wasn’t
renewed, Petronio was able to stage it for his dancers, with the Joyce season
marking its company premiere and a tour planned for the fall.

The content is all there,
but streamlined for 11 dancers rather than the original 18. “My task was to cut
the excess off it, so that it’s leaner and meaner now. All the essentials are
there, and I’ve enhanced a few things. I’ve had the benefit of six years
looking at the videotape and thinking about it. My dancers were jealous when
they saw the video—they were begging to do this piece!”

Underland

April 5–10, Joyce Theater,
175 8th Ave. (at W. 19th St.), 212-242-0800;
$10 .