[NEohioPAL]Berko review: Groundworks 3/29/07

[Roy Berko]

GROUNDWORKS dances and Shimotakahara gets award

Roy Berko
(Dance Critics Association)

David Shimotakahara, artistic director of GroundWorks
Dancetheater, is this year’s recipient of OhioDance’s
award for outstanding contribution to the advancement
of the art form.  According to the executive director
of Ohio Dance, a statewide service organization,
“David was chosen to receive the award because of his
innovative choreography, his many years of dedicated
work in dance and dance art and his knowledge,
experience and  creativity.”

Those who have been attending GroundWorks’
performances, are aware of the reach for excellence
that Shimotakahara inspires in his dancers and the
creativity of his choreography.   

This demand for perfection is both a boon and a bane
to the company.  The dancers, who have worked so long
and so well together, tend to respond best to
Shimotakahara’s precise choreography.  With few
exceptions, when turned over to others, though they
are still excellent, they generally are not as
proficient.  This, in part,  was the case at the
company’s latest performance as part of Cleveland
Public Theatre’s Danceworks ‘07.

In ‘HURRICANE HEART,’ a world premiere choreographed
by Kelly Garfield, the dancers were not up to their
usual level of physical control.  However, the body
positions often were not easily held and sometimes did
not meld well from move to move.  The units which made
up the story, which was supposedly a hero’s journey
that is never certain but not without hope, failed to
cohesively develop the theme.   A creative use of a
rope to represent doorways and binding a person or
people, was quite inventive.  Overall, the piece
lacked the company’s usual precision and clarity.

‘NANO,’ a David Shimotakahara choreographed world
premiere, was more to the company’s image.  Each
movement perfectly fit Gustavo Aguilar’s music. 
Aguilar became part of the dance ensemble as he flowed
from a snare drum center stage, to a stage right
snare, to stage left drum and then back to the
original instrument.  Though overly long, it was
fascinating to watch Aguilar use various implements to
create the sounds and see how Shimotakahara had melded
the music and the movements into a single concept to
parallel each of the drummer’s textures and qualities.

‘THROUGH THE LENS’ has rightly been incorporated into
the company’s repertoire.  Art Bridgman and Myran
Packer’s piece, which premiered at Trinity Cathedral
late last year, is a break-through concept.  As I
stated the first time I reviewed it, “Almost defying
description, the piece was performed in front of and
behind a massive red opaque curtain.  The dancers dove
and rolled under the material, danced behind the
screen, displaying configurations in varying degrees
of large and small shadows, as well as realistically
appearing before the curtain.”  I ended that review
with “This was a ‘WOW’ presentation.”  If anything,
the piece was even better this time as a second
screen, this time blue, was added to further enhance
the visual images and effects.

Groundworks says goodbye to dancer Jennifer Lott and
her husband Ryan as they depart for London.  Ryan is a
creative modern composer whose music has been used by
not only Groundworks, but other local dance companies.
 Good luck in their adventure.

Capsule judgement:  Groundworks remains one of the top
dance companies in the area and deserves the adulation
it is receiving.  See Groundworks at their next
program on June 22, 23 and 24 at Cain Park.  For
tickets call 216-371-3000.

Join the Groundworks and me at ‘GROUNDWORKS GOES
GOSPEL,’ a fund raiser for the company to be held at
The House of Blues on April 15 from 11:15 am to 1:30
p.m.  For information call 216-691-3180 Ext #1.


Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2002 through 2007, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info
      
Roy's theatre and dance reviews appear regularly 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.  His reviews also appear on www.coolcleveland.com


 
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