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

[Roy Berko]

GROUNDWORKS
adds a delightful dance to their repertoire and a new company member
 
Roy
Berko
 
(Member,
Dance Critics Association)
 
--THE
TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
 
Lorain
County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times  
 
--coocleveland.com—
 
Groundworks,
David Shimotakahara’s innovative dance company, showcased its newest company
member, Kelly Brunk, at their recent Cain Park performances.  In addition, ‘LIGHTS UP,’ a creative
humorous piece, was added to the group’s repertoire.
 
During
the last two years Groundworks has gone through major changes in their
composition.  Damien Highfield and
Sarah Perret joined the company last year.  Kelly Brunk, who blended well with the rest of company, was
impressive in his recent debut.  Tall and thin, Brunk, who graduated with honors from New York
University’s Tisch School of the Arts, has danced in Austria, Vietnam and San
Francisco.  He has choreographed as
well as performed.  He displayed
the necessary proficiency and discipline to meld into Groundworks’ controlled
dance form.  
 
‘LIGHTS
UP’, the third number in the recent program, is a welcome addition to the
repertoire, which often tends to be very serious.  This piece, performed to live music composed and played by
Gustavo Aguilar, Nathan Douds and Howie Smith, was both humorous and
creative.  Shimotakahara’s
choreography, which was a collaborative work created by the entire company,
centers on interesting combinations of duets and trios.  It was fresh, happy and joyful.  It contained an excellent jazz segment
performed by Sarah Perrett.  As
always, Amy Miller and Felise Bagley sparkled.
 
The
program also included ‘ANNIE REDUX,’ choreographed by David Parker, which used
music from Irving Berlin’s ‘ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.’  The songs were recorded for the 1950 MGM film adaptation of
the Broadway show which was to star Judy Garland and Howard Keel.  Before the movie was completed, Garland
had to withdraw, but her vocal renditions had been recorded.  Though it was exciting to hear
Garland’s versions of the song, Parker’s choreography is lacking.  As a friend, who had not seen the piece
before commented, “The words and the movements didn’t match.”  I had stated this the first time I
reviewed the piece.  The movements
were creative, with the use of interesting angles, arm lifts, freezes and
poses.  The quality of the dancing
was excellent.  However, the lack
of parallelism between meaning and actions was distracting.
 
‘MIGRATION,’
the program’s other dance number, was performed to live music composed by
Gustavo Aguilar and performed by Aguilar and his wife Gaelyn.  The plaintive sounds were pleasingly
interpreted by the sarong clad duo of Amy Miller and Damien Highfield.  About ‘things in flux, the motion of
change, how far can we journey and still be connected to a place, to each
other,” the overall effect was compelling.  The dancers were physically disconnected, though emotionally
connected, through most of the piece, moving in separate spheres.  As is often the case with Aguilar’s
compositions, the number was too long, causing connect exhaustion between the
dancers and the audience.
 
Following
the performance Shimotakahara announced that the company would be in New York
in  residence sometime during the
2008- 2009 season.
 
CAPSULE
JUDGEMENT:  GROUNDWORKS
DANCETHEATER is one of the area’s shining cultural lights.  Welcome to Kelly Brunk, who appears to
be a fine talent addition to the company.  
 
Save
these Groundwork dates:  ‘THE HEINZ
POLL SUMMER DANCE FESTIVAL (August 8 & 9, 8:45 PM Cascade Plaza-Downtown
Akron; ‘LINCOLN PARK, August 15 & 16, 8:45, in Cleveland’s Tremont
neighborhood, West 14th and Kenilworth.  Both events are FREE.  For
information go to www.parkworks.org.
 
 
 Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2008, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info

His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to subscibe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)