Forti’s Fluid Grace Infuses Word Play

Wild garlic, tiny red ants and sumac all belong to the unadulterated world of Simone Forti. A postmodern improvisational dance diva, Forti enlivened the stage of Highways Performance Space on Friday with “logomotion,” an evening of four works incorporating movement and spoken word. But wait. Was it possible that earth goddess Forti, lying prone on a trio of bamboo poles, was also talking about, of all things, the impeachment hearings?

Precisely. And nothing seemed more, well, Fortian. At 60ish, this ageless beauty infuses every arch of her back and sway of her hip with authenticity. Thus, when she puzzles over shifting balances and changing shapes--those bamboo poles she makes brilliant use of in her closing piece, “Animation”--she becomes the last word on an impossible subject: Forti makes sense of the senseless.

Her playful and unique points of view--connecting disparate realities with time, space and motion--always intrigue. Joined by the muscular Carmela Hermann in “The Plant People,” the duo explores a mystical terrain where banana leaves, snakes and tree bark rule. Hermann nuzzles Forti’s thighs; Forti supports Hermann on her back; and, whether tracing the air with their fingers, or pushing, pulling and crawling over each other in territorial fits and starts, the pair creates a delightful, beckoning universe.

In “Jackdaw Songs,” Forti charms with her take on the chattering birds, a kind of ornithological serenade for the uninitiated. Forti continues to be a source of amazement and amusement.