Ririe Woodbury's Momentum

Showcases can be difficult for artists and audiences; they come with potentially clunky transitions, disparate aesthetic concerns and scheduling conflicts between casts. Ririe Woodbury’s 2015 iteration of “Momentum” dispelled these difficulties for a successful two evening run of works by current company members and alumni in the Rose Wagner Blackbox. Each piece, however different, fulfilled its own concept, broadly representing the choreographic range of Ririe-Woodbury dancers.  

Some of the works presented were imagistic, beginning with Lehua Estrada’s “Cedar, Ash and Apple.” Three ballgown clad women appeared in a landscape of empty branches and shredded paper with the sound and appearance of leaves. The dancers took a surreal romp in which it was easy to marvel at the precision of the cast, particularly Kylie Rae Lloyd. It’s unclear how these women appeared in this world but nice be swept away in enjoyment of their moment.

“… So a path I walk”  by Chia-Chi Chiang relied equally on imagery (and interestingly, paper) to ground the material. A duet for Yebel Gallegos and Chiang’s young son, Jaden Tu, the dance centered on vignettes with rolls of butcher paper (making a pathway, drawing hopscotch, tracing a hand). Concluding with the magical appearance of paper airplanes. The work could be read in a number of ways: a meditation on aging, a reflection on parenting, an exploration of mortality.

Momentum co-creators, Jill Voorhees Edwards and Juan Carlos Claudio each presented dances utilizing abstract and virtuosic movement structures. The former was compelling in its gentleness and the second in its urgency. Both artists work full-time as university educators and the night was a way for them to the broaden the reach of their ideas. This was particularly true in the case of Claudio whose cast was comprised of students. Some, like Natalie Barnes Jones, are soon-to-be-graduates looking to make their way in a complicated field. For Jones, who is extraordinarily easeful, it’s an important way to remain visible as she departs academia.

A dance film choreographed by Jillian Harris was another extension of an academic project. “Red Earth Calling,” was supported in part by Temple University, where Harris teaches. When the credits began with a woman in Arches National Park, I cringed at the suspicion that aggressive improvisation would unfold. Surprisingly the concept was novel, equal parts love story and murder mystery. While it didn’t settle into either identity fully, it was refreshing in its degree of difference from common tropes in the form.

Bradley Beakes was the only current company member featured in Momentum, rounding out the show with “His Red Letter Day.” The solo was a lesson in the importance of continuing to workshop choreography in new spaces with new audiences. Recently presented at Mudson works-in-progress, 12 Minutes Max and the Greater Salt Lake Fringe Festival, the dance reached new clarity in lighting design and staging in this iteration. If his voice signals what’s to come for the company I, for one, am thrilled.

Ashley Anderson directs loveDANCEmore programs as part of her non-profit, "ashley anderson dances." The reviews here are shared with 15 BYTES, where she serves as dance editor.  See more at ashleyandersondances.com

This review was edited to reflect that Natalie Jones is a senior; the piece originally stated that she was a previous graduate. 

RDT presents…Bill Evans, 75!

To celebrate his 75th birthday, dancer Bill Evans decided to put on his own show.  Presented by RDT at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Evans’ show mixed dance styles and history to give a glimpse of his life as a dancer.

The show started with Bill seated downstage, where he went between each number, to explain some of the history of himself and each dance; it’s also where he channeled Mr. Rogers and changed his shoes. Evans, along with Savion Glover and Brenda Bufalino, was named one of the top three tap dancers in the world by a Dance Magazine Readers Poll, so he fittingly started the show with a stylish tap number, “Three Preludes”.  His tap dancing was at times smooth and elegant and at the next moment was quick and very rhythmic.  He made use of his whole body and sometimes had the audience not looking at his feet, which is not easy to do when tap shoes are involved.

“Excursions” was similar to “Three Preludes,”  each had 3 parts and were performed to classical music, but both were well done and spread throughout the show.  What was most impressive was that at 75, both dances were filled with pickups and grab offs.  That’s not easy at any age, and to have them performed so cleanly was fantastic.

Bill told the audience that his first dance passion was tap, but at the time it wasn’t a valued form of dance.  He had to diversify his technique and moved first to ballet and then modern.  “Saintly Passion”,  was an example of his modern choreography and a segment from a larger dance piece from 1997.  It wasn’t the strongest number in the show, but did have some lovely moments, including Bill seated on a bench upstage performing slight, angular movements.

In the middle of the show, the audience was shown a “flashback” video from 1984.  While a bit blurry, the dance “Bounce Boy” was a fun glimpse into Bill Evans as a younger dancer.  His energy was high and his kicks were even higher.  The dance was jazzy and funny and a great addition to the show.

The final two numbers in the show were unexpected physical comedy. “See You Around”, choreographed by Claire Porter and Sabatino Verlezza, had Evans dancing with his partner, Don Halquist.  The two were dressed as business men in suits and ties and carrying file folders.  The dance was reminiscent of the opening scene from ‘’The Music Man when the traveling salesmen are on a train talking about what they sell, only their scene was on an elevator talking about the people they work with and where they might have disappeared to.  The physical comedy was hysterical and their sanity seemed to devolve each time they got onto the elevator.  It was a well thought out and well performed piece.“Interview,”  also choreographed by Claire Porter, saw Evans at a job interview.  While not as strong as “See You Around”,  it still had moments of great humor.

Bill Evans gave himself the best birthday present a dancer could have; the chance to perform and have fun.  If you missed this performance, but want to see a bit more of Bill Evans, don’t miss his tap workshop at Rose Wagner on August 8.  Classes range from beginning to advanced.

Carly Anderson is a tapper who teaches classes at Janet Gray Studios. 

NOWHERE at Libby Gardner Concert Hall

Before collaborative was compelling marketing it was embedded in the making of concert dance. In the ’30s Martha Graham worked with Isamu Noguchi on Frontier and he went on to design the seat for Appalachian Spring. Merce Cunningham, who performed as “the Revivalist” in that work, went on to have collaborations from Andy Warhol’s pillows in RainForest to scores by Sigur Ros and Radiohead for Split Sides. More traditionally, classical ballet drops were hand-painted and music was carefully designed to house its movements. In these unspoken veins NOW-ID stakes its claim.

It’s true that Artistic Director Charlotte Boye-Christensen’s serious and sharp aesthetic is reminiscent of Graham’s more narrative work and her presentation of Jesper Egelund‘s songs is as magnificent as any ballet orchestra. But NOWHERE also identifies a divergent nature to contemporary collaborations; in the program you won’t only find thanks to cultural partners but logos for hair salons and magazine marketing agreements. In this shift the group finds success, mobilizing outward from audiences attending dance mostly because they are themselves dancers. The resulting evening is met with enthusiasm and projects a think-tank sensibility if a more slick veneer.

NOWHERE begins with Jesper Egelund and Laura Cutler seated symmetrically atop the concert hall frame and highlighting a human-sized hamster wheel. Their music opens space for a duet between Tara McArthur and Brian Nelson. From the moment McArthur enters, choreographic ideas of freedom through restraint are perfectly clear. Her performance throughout provides a haunting meditation on how we fast we might arrive in a moment only to vanish as quickly.

NOWHERE continues shuffling duets and solos alongside brief video from Adam Bateman’s walk home on the Mormon Trail. Bateman also joins the moving action as “The Walker” formally partnering an en pointe with Katherine Lawrence across the stage and relieving expectations by running on the wheel near the end of the work. With six exterior silver seats, the audience can guess just how many mathematical possibilities there might be between the performers which allows our predictions to dissipate, finding enjoyment in watching the action unfold.

Some duets have topical tension about how we arrive and navigate elsewhere. In others a stylistic tension develops between varied performance modalities. Katherine Lawrence is fiercely capable of technical command but some degree of vulnerability seems choreographed out of her reach — an opening chest, a fluid fall, or other liberated idioms. Perhaps this is engrained into the very idea of difference, something inherent to an exploration of place. Yet it’s likely that the company model of periodic convergence is related. With half of the performers arriving a handful of weeks prior to NOWHERE, a lack of time finds its way to the surface. There is certainly magic in a serendipitous moment: the muscle memories of McArthur and TJ Spaur inside crisp partnering, the knowing of Adam’s walking body, the space temporarily losing NOW’s signature blue light in favor of floods of red. But there is enough possibility resonant that further sifting of the material seems not only warranted but desirable.

Ashley Anderson directs loveDANCEmore programs as part of her 501c3 ashley anderson dances. She shares her writing here on 15 BYTES where she is the dance editor. In the spirit of full disclosure she is friends with Tara McArthur and is extremely jealous of Katherine Lawrence’s badass post-partum performance.

Upholding Tradition, Defying Definition in BW’s Innovations

Ballet West produces Innovations each spring as a platform for the company’s dancers to explore their own choreographic pursuits alongside more established guest choreographers. While a great opportunity, it is still rare nationally to find full evening programs devoted to dancers’ own choreography. Ballet Arizona, Ballet Arkansas, Ballet Idaho, Ballet West, and Kansas City Ballet are a handful of companies that present such a program in their annual season.

Innovations inspires initial expectations for me as a viewer: that the evening’s works will innovatein some way: structurally, choreographically, musically – in any or all of these ways – diverging from the typical classical, neo-classical, or contemporary ballet. Some work diverged more than others from these existing categories, but all presented mastery in their crafting.

Emily Adams’ Homage is a narrative work, inspired by Salvador Dali’s “Homage to Terpsichore.” A conflict between the dancers in flowing pink and their shadow-like counterparts emerges both through emoting and a sharp contrast in movement qualities: Adams’ choreography lends itself well to storytelling. While Homage falls more under the classical umbrella, Adams (somewhat of an Innovations veteran) shows that she is capable of producing a full act ballet that understands narrative arc. Adrian Fry’s Pulse, which draws inspiration from qualities of the human heart and a commercial for Google Play, is abstractly movement-centric. The dancers weave in and out amongst each other to create a pulsing quartet. Abandonment of narrative, alongside the Dvorak score, feels in this case neo-classical , and the choreography stays within the realm of classical ballet. However, Fry’s choreography does prove a deft vehicle of expression in Pulse, even if not one of exploration.

Katlyn Addison’s The Hunt was the most successful piece in terms of risk-taking and divergence from familiar forms. Addison places live drummer Cameron Hodges onstage, which contributes to a heightened sense of urgency and more physical abandon. The dancers place emphasis on both elevation and groundedness, a certain qualitative divergence. Structurally, Addison does not provide a rigid narrative, but the dancers engage in constant movement dialogue with each other and the drummer. Addison’s choreography draws from a variety of influences, both modern and African dance forms; this reinforcesThe Hunt’s sense of purpose to convey a new idea.

Professional guest (and resident) choreographer Nicolo Fonte’s Presto is shorter and features a smaller cast than much of his other work in Ballet West’s repertoire. Yet even in this distilled format for four dancers, Presto is an iteration of what has become a contemporary ballet stereotype: mostly classical movement with affectations (a flexed foot, a tilted pelvis, a claw-like hand), a minimalist score (Ezio Bosso, in this case), an exposed lighting grid, and “futuristic” costuming (silver lamé). Presto is clearly distinct from and more contemporary by definition than the likes of Petipa, Nijinsky, and Balanchine; however, it exhibits ideas that have become so familiar in the Era of The Contemporary Ballet that I question if these qualities of a work continue to exhibit innovation on their own.

Professional guest choreographer Garrett Smith’s world premiere Facades could be described as “Jiri Kylian meets Phantom of the Opera.” Facades combines Baroque aesthetic and music with elements found in classical ballet, contemporary ballet, and even commercial dance. The costumes have Baroque and classical silhouettes, yet are flashy and made of non-traditional materials (the men’s “waistcoats” were sheer, tutus were red and sparkling). The canvas drop painted like an ornate gilded mirror provides an interactive visual aid for the exploration of reality and its reflections or distortions. Smith draws upon classical choreographic devices, yet strays from conventions. The entire women’s corps de ballet, though in classical tutus, appear kneeling in profile and continue lying down for a gestural sequence highlighting body-halves. Male/female partnering sequences employed head tics and quick parallel swivels that were more wind-up doll than pas de deux. Use of a narrative thread is ballet at its most familiar, but the other layers ofFacades are Smith’s own innovation.

All the works in Innovations show excellence in crafting of movement or narrative. But the works that stand out and stood up to my expectations of innovation drew upon many influences to create a unique statement. Recognition of tradition may always be important to ballet as a form, but ballets that feel truly “contemporary” will continue to defy definition.

Photo by Luke Isley of BW artists in Garrett Smith’s Facades

Amy Falls used to be a bunhead, and is still a ballet enthusiast. She coordinates loveDANCEmore’s Mudson series. This review is published in collaboration with 15 BYTES.

Children’s Review: Crumb & the Pirates

On a special day at my preschool, at the university, we wore our theater clothes. We went to see dance and every one was my favorite because I liked all of them. The seagulls did the seagull dance, the pirates did the pirate dance, the fog did the fog dance. The noodle did the noodle dance, the fish did the fish dance, the dog did the dog dance. The dog’s name was Max. The seagull dance was the silliest because they did this *shows some sort of wiggly movement while laughing*. Pirates were swinging on ropes and I want to dance like that one day. But, I have to be older.

Zachary Womack is enrolled in the Fine Arts Preschool at the Tanner Dance Program.