16th ANNUAL MID-ATLANTIC CHOREOGRAPHERS SHOWCASE: Eclectic Dance and Exposed Bras

16^TH ANNUAL MID-ATLANTIC CHOREOGRAPHERS SHOWCASE: A showcase of female choreographers from NYC to Miami

A Dance Review by Julinda D. Lewis

At: Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street, RVA 23220

Performances: April 28 @ 5pm & 8pm and April 29 at 2PM

Ticket Prices: $15 General Admission

Info: (804) 304-1523, starrfosterdance.org, or http://www.showclix.com

 

The 16^th Annual Mid-Atlantic Choreographers Showcase, formerly known as the Richmond Choreographers Showcase, featured 9 works by 7 female choreographers representing 6 companies. In the dance world, most dancers are women, but try to name a choreographer, and you usually come up with a male name, so this in itself is noteworthy. (This is such a controversial topic that dozens of articles will pop up on a cursory Google search.)

Produced by Starr Foster Dance, Inc., the goal of the Showcase is to expose audiences to “eclectic and engaging” dance and so far, some 120 choreographers representing 60 cities have participated. This year’s selection included some hits and a few misses (no pun intended).

One of the most engaging works opened the second half of the program. Catherine Cabeen, founder of the interdisciplinary performance group Hyphen (NYC) created and performed . . .yet again. Danced to music by Westin Oxking Portillo and a text in which Cabeen and Jeff Morrison have an infuriatingly civil conversation about women’s choice and oppression – filled with words and phrases like “emotional” and “your kind” and “your place” – Cabeen’s lanky body moves from agitated angular movements to swirls and curves that exude confidence and control. A former member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Cabeen’s style seems grounded in the self-exploratory kinetics of early works by Jones. . . .yet again is visually satisfying and emotionally cathartic.

Another solo, Little Red Crush, choreographed and performed by Lisa Innisfree of Richmond proved to be quite humorous and mildly reminiscent of the classic mime work of the late Marcel Marceau.  Dancing to My Boy Lollipop by Millie Small, Innisfree arrives onstage with a red balloon. She dances with it, hugs it, kisses it, and eventually puts it under her dress like a mock pregnancy. But the balloon pops, the baby miscarries, and Innisfree embarks on a period of mourning to the music Sur Le Fil by Yann Tiersen, during which she folds herself into a red milk crate and performs a number of acrobatic stunts, many of which involve balancing on her head or shoulder and demonstrate astounding flexibility in floorwork. It was an unfortunate distraction that many of these stunts resulted in an inordinate amount of what can only be called crotch shots – involving generous and frequent displays of her red briefs. When she is done grieving for her “little red crush,” she adopts a new blue crush, strips off her red dress, revealing a blue sports bra, and walks off with her new friend.

In Whatever. Wherever. Whenever. Rain Ross of Rain Ross Dance (Philadelphia) put her six female dancers in 1960s style prom dresses, with some in ponytails, to dance to songs by Doris Day: Que Sera, Sera; Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps; and Fly Me to the Moon. Day, who recorded all three songs in 1964, is still alive and just turned 96 on April 3. The piece, for eight dancers, is nostalgic and shamelessly girly.

Foster’s own company closed the first half of the program with The Space Between the Echoes, set to an original score by Billy Curry that features a very contemporary beat drop, some jazzy riffs, and an industrial/mechanical sound that has six dancers moving through various permutations: three sets of two, two sets of three, a soloist, a duo, and a trio. The movement and the title remind me of that quotation about jazz attributed to Miles Davis, that jazz is “the notes you don’t play.”  The piece is very musical in that way and seemed more sophisticated than the pieces that preceded it. Foster also choreographed the final piece on the program, a new work entitled Waiting Room, performed by her company and six additional guest dancers. The work features three ceiling-to-floor red panels, and the dancers are dressed in red and/or black for this intriguing and intense work.

Other works on the program included Her and She, a duet by Andrea Dawn Shelley of iMEE (iNFINITE MOVEMENT EVER EVOLVING) of Miami; Comme je Suis (As I Am)  by Stephanie L Dorrycott of Motion X Dance DC (Washington, DC); Here We Are. We Are Here. By Rain Ross and Caroline Fermin of Rain Ross Dance; and Intransigent by Kristina Ancil Edwards of Motion X Dance DC.

Now, while there was some humor and some liberation and some womanist work, the program, overall, was dark – both literally and figuratively – and many of the choreographers felt compelled to display bras and panties. Enough, already! I don’t have any moral or fashion motive for this outburst – I just found it excessive and after several iterations (4 of 9 dances featured exposed bras and one featured red panties), it became a distraction. Okay, rant done. Thank you for another year of bringing new dance to RVA!

 

Julinda D. Lewis is a dancer, teacher, and writer who was born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in Eastern Henrico County.

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Photo Credits:

Catherine Cabeen by Joe Markwalter

iMEE by Roi LeMay

Luisa Martinez by Evan Zimmerman

Motion X by Ruth Judson

Rain Ross by Brian Mengini

Starr Foster Danc

e by Doug Hayes