[NEohioPAL]Berko review: GROUNDWORKS DANCETHEATER (Cain Park)

[Roy Berko]

GROUNDWORKS AGAIN DISPLAYS PERFECTION AT CAIN PARK

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Dance
Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

Humans are storytellers.  The narratives they tell
perpetuate the values, morals and history of their
culture.   David Shimotakahara, the Artistic Director
of GroundWorks Dancetheater, has taken this theme and
built it into the company’s Cain Park program.

The small Alma Theatre is a perfect venue for
GroundWorks whose selections tend to work best when
the audience is up-front and personal.  

The program opened with choreographer Beth Corning’s
‘At Once There Was a House.’  The piece, which is a
series of vignettes, has become part of the company’s
continuing repertoire with good reason.  It lets the
cast members not only dance but narrate.  It also
allows for some lightness and humor.    Danced in
solos, duets, trios and quartets the piece, which
includes music by Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan, Lou
Harrison and others, spans the blues, Asian, operatic
and classical sounds.  Using almost every modern dance
technique, the variety of movements in the performance
catch and hold the audience’s attention.  Highlights
were a section in which each dancer holds a freeze and
exchanges positions with another company member;
Shimotakahara coupling with a stuffed puppet; Felice
Bagley exploring a fence and its role in life’s
passages; Mark Otloski dancing around, on and beside a
chair; Amy Miller exploring a house; and the entire
company in oversized shoes going out into and
interacting with the audience.

‘Ephemeral,’ choreographed by Shimotakahara, was
conceived to the music of Gustavo Aguilar, who often
supplies the sounds for the company.  Combining
primitive and plaintive music, the high energy piece
was perfectly executed.  Enhanced by the lighting of
Dennis Dugan Felise Bagley and Mark Otloski created
the image of being attracted to the lighting shadows
while attempting to escape their hold, much like moths
to a flame.  The duo’s unit of moves was visually
compelling.

The world premiere of Shimotakahara’s ‘Kabila (The
Tribe),’ was magical.  Janet Bolick and fabric artist
Esther Montgomery’s isometric costumes added much
visual excitement to the performance.  Danced to
sounds of African voices, the choreography recreated
traditional dark continent movements into modern dance
action, following the musical changes from chants to
heavy drum beats.  Again, the theme of narratives was
showcased with various tales told through bodily
movements.  

GroundWorks has the best complete dance company in the
area.  Each dancer has total control over his/her
movements.  Honed by Shimotakahara’s perfectionistic
philosophy of choreography and dance there appears
never to be a stumble or error or unnecessary
movement.  It is amazing to watch Amy Miller, Felise
Bagley, Mark Otloski and Shimotakahara display
complete understanding of the need to make and the
ability to create each movement into a complete set of
beginning, middle and finality.   Trainee Jennifer
Lott has improved greatly since she has come under the
guidance of Shimotakahara which is taking her on the
journey to become a dancer of the quality of the rest
of the company.  It was also pleasing to see that
Otloski has completely recovered from an injury which
kept him out of the company’s last several concerts.

CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:  GroundWorks Dancetheater’s latest
concert at Cain Park was slam dunk.  As has come to be
expected from this fine company, the evening was one
of excitement and enjoyment!

GroundWorks will next perform at The Icehouse in Akron
on September 16-18 and 23 25.  For tickets to those
performances call 216-691-3180 or visit
www.groundworksdance.org.

The company will perform a Cain Park concert on
Saturday, April 2 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 3 at
3:00 p.m.  For reservations call 216-631-2727. 




Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


		
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