Ririe Woodbury held a matinee kid friendly show at the Capitol Theatre on January 30th. It was that magical length of under an hour, and showcased four works by the historic Alwin Nikolais.
Artistic Director Daniel Charon did a great job of introducing each piece, providing context, and even a seated movement experience. Although I questioned why “Gallery” would be included in a children’s show (clowns and creepy music!), overall the show was visual and theatrical with ten dancers showcasing dynamic movement at its best. I took my three children, Zachary (5), Kate (3), and Sophie (1). Here are Zachary’s reactions:
“I liked a lot of the moves they did. The first piece (Mechanical Organ) was not my favorite, but I liked when they sat on the bench and got up and down again.
The ghosts (Neumenon) came in and were spooky and went Chomp! Chomp! like a crocodile with their hands. This was my favorite piece because the dancers had sheets over themselves and just did really cool moves. Also the music sounded like ghost-men.
In that one piece (Gallery) there were scary things and they were holding up different faces and masks.
The last piece (Tensile Involvement) had ribbons and the dancers pulled them tighter and tighter, and then all these different colors came.
I do think these dancers practice a lot and this was my favorite move, (he then sat down, stood up, releve, port a bra, slide left, slide right). Thank-you for letting me watch the show with you. It was a very good time. Goodbye.”
Erica Womack is an area choreographer and adjunct faculty at SLCC. Her son Zachary is in preschool and aspired to be on Ninja Warrior.