Also on the bill for this free outdoor program is the choreographer’s U.S. premiere of “Quad,” a wordless television play by Samuel Beckett.
To make a dance to some of Handel’s “Water Music” and title it simply “Water” is just the kind of joke you would expect from Mark Morris. So is staging that work in Brooklyn Bridge Park with New York Harbor as the backdrop, putting “Water” right up against the water. The title helps set the tone: a little impudent in its unfussy plain-spokenness. And despite the downsides of the location — a concrete promenade for a stage, which forced the dancers to protect their usually bare feet with sneakers, and recorded music (a rare concession for this troupe) — that tone is part of what made the work particularly suited for a free, outdoor show. For 45 minutes on Saturday, the neighborly Mark Morris Dance Group presented high-class choreography on a lovely day to people who sat on the sloping grass, passed by with strollers and pets or simply soaked up the sun, like the man wearing nothing but what could be described as a codpiece. “Water,” which closed the program, is short, about 10 minutes long. Tape outlines a quadrangle on the floor and the full company walks that perimeter, framing couples who take turns in lyric flights through the center, one dancer often carrying another who is upside down.
