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Idaho Dance Theater shows professionalism at concert
Archive
Given its affiliation with BSU and the youthfulness of the company (several of the dancers are still in high school), you might think that Idaho Dance Theatre is a student company. But they call themselves “professional,” and they certainly aspire to professional standards in dancing and choreography. I would say the company has more professionalism than professionals, but it certainly offers more in quality than what the idea of “a student company” would.
Idaho Dance Theatre consists of six dancers and six “apprentices,” (10 girls and two guys), and some of the dancers are paid. The concerts will sometimes have guest dancer-choreographers in addition to the company’s own co-artistic directors, Marla Hansen and Carl Rowe. For these performances the guests were Matthew Hope of Ballet Idaho and Joelle Van Sickle, a dance professor newly relocated to Boise.
Regardless of label, IDT’s “Winter Concert” at the Special Events Center on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 20, showed an abundance of creativity and some outstanding dancing and choreography.
Judging from the photos in the company’s magazine and some of the pieces performed during the three-concert series, Idaho Dance Theatre explores modern dance from a foundation schooled in classical ballet technique. Both the modern and the classical were offered Saturday, and much in between.
Rowe’s works opened and closed the program. They showed two opposites for the concert: the first uninspired, the last a thrilling finale. The opener, “Line Up,” set to two movements of a Bach orchestra suite, allowed six of the girls a chance to warm-up. Two of the younger ones show great promise. The last work, “Go Getters,” set to the vibrant, modern orchestra sounds of Michael Torke (one of America’s most prominent young composers), was an extended explosion of creativity in cartwheels of color for the full company. “Go Getters” was a fitting climax to the concert’s overall high level of dance.
Van Sickle’s “More Than the Sum of Her Parts” was one of the more imaginative solo works I’ve seen, more pantomime than dance, with her hands, arms, legs and feet as the characters. It was meant to parody the loneliness she felt as a jilted young woman in New York. In the first section Van Sickle appeared whole, like a statue in a toga, while the audio was a collage of radio consumerism, both of products and of men. She revealed her bare back early to give the idea of a sensuous sheet which, if it were to slip as she moved in and around it, would reveal a lot of skin. (Given the giggles and the gasps, this part was uncomfortable for the children seated behind me). The second section had Van Sickle on her back on a table with only her legs facing the audience. They became animated puppet-like figures who chased and played with each other, bringing great laughter from the audience. The final section, performed to Ricky Nelson’s “Lonesome Town,” was a clever dialogue between her two hands.
Mathew Hope’s “Flow” was skillful and entertaining, with the last section the best. It used all the dancers, who moved with seamless unity and grace. “Flow” is a lovely piece, but far too orderly to describe as “chaos,” organized or otherwise, as Hope does in his program notes. The work is more in character with the delightful Tibetan-sounding flutes and percussion of Thomas Newman’s “Unstrung Heroes.”
Marla Hansen, the other co-artistic director, created a wonderful dance to Britten’s four-movement “Simple Symphony, Op. 4″ for strings. Titled “Opus 4 Catherine,” the center piece was the slow movement, evocatively danced by Echo Waldron and Eurek Hanson. The couple begins in anguished separation, and work towards each other, embracing when the piece goes into the major key, and continue in intimate partnering, dissolving to the floor at the close. It was one of the concert’s high points.
With Max von Reither’s “Letting Go,” the concert cranked up a notch. Set to songs by vocalist Kate Bush, the opening was instantly arresting and the work took off from there. Alfred Hansen’s side and shadowed lighting was the most creative here too. The dancers worked against a rope, and literally danced the lyric “a stick on my back.” “Letting Go” is full of surprises, such as one of the men jumping into the arms of the smaller woman. Karla Avery was especially poignant as the soloist in the final movement, “of the isolation.”
“Letting Go,” along with “Go Getters” and “Opus 4 Catherine,” were certainly modern dance and ballet at a fully professional level and provided a spellbinding dance experience.