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IDT is `Dancing Out Loud’ for opener
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The Idaho Dance Theatre is opening their upcoming season this Friday with an eclectic blend of dance, theatre and surrealism.
“Dancing Out Loud” showcases three choreographers and 14 dancers in perfect syncopation to several distinct musical pieces.
For nearly a decade, IDT has been the professional dance company-in-residence at Boise State. Their repertory concept incorporates modern dance with ballet elements, creating a unique visual experience.
IDT’s Managing Director Cyndi Elliot, a former dancer, uses the slogan, “Experience the Unexpected,” for the upcoming season.
“IDT’s choreography is intriguing, exciting and makes you want to dance. ODancing Out Loud’ is a total experience, exquisitely staged and performed,” Elliot said.
The first dance piece, “Variations On A Life,” is choreographed by company mainstay Carl Rowe, and features dancer Echo Waldron’s body mechanics to the music of Rachmaninoff, performed on piano by Boise State music professor Del Parkinson.
“This is a very athletic piece, at the same time, it’s an intellectual exercise,” Rowe said.
Rowe’s second piece, “Suite Quartets,” is a collage of movement to string quartet music in nine sections, encompassing ensemble work, contrasting moods and a soulful blues solo.
“We make images in the way a painter would. We feel free do whatever we want just like an abstract painter,” Rowe said.
The second choreographer, Thax von Reither, will debut his latest work; a post-modern piece called “Fraternus,” featuring the music of The Dave Matthews Band.
“This is a very unique piece for me because I never thought of choreographing dance to his (Dave Matthews) music before,” von Reither said.
Fraternus” integrates modern music with the contemporary dance of four men and one woman, delineating the physical, sensual and emotional power of men in correlation with the strength of womanhood.
“The woman in the piece is represented as a icon. She represents various elements in society. The men start out worshipping her, but end up manipulating her,” von Reither said.
IDT’s co-artistic director Marla Hansen, who is also a dance professor at Boise State, choreographs the fourth and final piece of the performance. Her latest work, “Venus,” is described as a “hot ballet performed to cool jazz.”
The piece is performed by seven female dancers in a kinetic body shop of motion, accentuated by contemporary jazz and the vibrant lighting design of Alfred Hansen, who is also her husband, and a professor at Boise State.
“The piece confronts stereotypes about women, about peoples’ perception that beautiful women can’t be strong and sexy at the same time,” Hansen said.
The piece is performed in four sections to the heavy saxophone music of Morphine and the soundtrack to David Lynch’s film, Lost Highway.
Hansen said that all of the dancers in “Venus” are highly trained in ballet, but the product is theatrical in nature.
J. Patrick Kelly
