As more dancers arrive — including the regal Miriam Miller, who takes on some sort of conductor or instructor role — strange tensions simmer. The attractive costumes for the cast of 10, Easter egg-colored unitards by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, suggest spring, joy; the music is more muddled, disturbing, the creepiness is enhanced by the excellent lighting of Brandon Stirling Baker.
Sometimes the choreography seems like a patchwork – yes, a mosaic – of allusions to ballet rituals and codes. Early on, a group casually gathers on a far edge of the stage (Tanowitz likes to use the edges), as if preparing for classroom practice. A solo for Miller, in silence, hovers between practice and performance. In a pivotal duet, Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen introduce what look like blotchy, softened versions of story-ballet mime. (Here, Tanowitz reuses material from her second City Ballet work, a short film starring Janzen.)
Much of the movement plays with that relaxed quality and with images of fatigue. Mearns stands behind Janzen, pointing princely into the distance, resting her head on his arm, as if giving up the mid-pas de deux. In a multi-couple section, the women plop on the floor, heavy and wooden. At the other extreme, more traditional displays of virtuosity ring like alarm bells, such as when Preston Chamblee races through a series of fouetté turns, or when Ruby Lister, a striking new corps member, commands the stage alone with alert, springy leaps.
From some angles, “Law of Mosaics” looks haphazard, structurally confused. From others, its fragmentary nature reads as more intentional, a clear challenge to maintain the expected order not only for the audience, but also for Tanowitz and the dancers. Curiously enough, the core of the dance seems to be the end: a grim, shadowy solo for a barefoot Sara Mearns. Lately, in her collaborations outside of City Ballet, Mearns has been leaning towards imperfection (or so she says). As she balances and bourrées, her limbs swaying and jutting out against the music’s violent jolts, a real vulnerability surfaces. Afterwards she turns out to be the main character in this mystery.