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Big Sky Country Gets a Big Festival Dance Houston 2007 Wortham Center, Cullen Theater August 10, 2007 by Nancy Wozny What makes a festival sing—startling variety, a smooth running show, and exposure to new groups. Dance Houston aced all three this weekend with their fifth annual city-wide festival. Founding Director Andrea Cody keeps her eagle eyes open all year to find the right mix. The blend of hip-hop, modern, world, and ballroom dance made for a rich soup of dance genres. As with all festivals there are standouts. Marvelous Motion is not boasting with that name, they are indeed marvelous. Under the direction of Moon, this troupe danced with whip-sharp unison, air-slicing precision, and richly-textured choreography in Real Talk. Just Dance, jointly choreographed by Andrew Batarina, Brian Puspos, and Jackie Lauchang. A continually morphing group formation and the suggestion of a narrative elevated this performance to a fresh place on the hip-hop front. Phillip Chbeeb's head antics were not to be believed or tried at home for that matter. The crew seems to be pushing the form a bit, experimenting and de-constructing the usual set of moves. Hip-hop is familiar, commercial, and global now; we are ripe for the next step and Marvelous Motion seems to be leading the way in Houston. In the modern tent, Revolve Dance Company owned the stage with Wes Veldink's Consequence of Sound, set to Regina Spektor's song of the same name. A simple line of right and left moving feet contrasted with bursts of wild dancing and open-mouthed pauses. Veldink knows how to show off these fluid movers with simple choreographic ideas, punctuated with dense passages of virtuosity, and a delicate homespun charm. Revolve emerged out of nowhere last season as the must-have company on your bill. Actually, that nowhere is located in Spring, TX at North Harris Performing Arts, where they have garnered a national reputation as a training center and competition team. Other modern dance offerings included Second Generation Dance Company in Lori Amare-Bujung's sultry Woman Seek, set to the equally sultry voice of jazz legend Nina Simone. The piece examined powerful yet earthy images of women. Austin Ingle of Dancers Against Cancer (a Webster-based non-profit that helps raise funds for families in need), balanced Damien Rice's heartfelt music with poignantly spare choreography in Urban Soul's Delicate. Emotion and passionate dancing ruled in Our Deepest Fears, jointly choreographed by Harrison Guy and Walter Hull. Sophia Torres of Psophonia Dance Company, offered Technicolor, a sneak peak of their upcoming show, “Phantasia.” Moments of strong ensemble work couldn't rescue this dance from blandness. Uneven dancing also got in the way of Torres' message. And let's not forget about the little people. FlyKiDs looked smashing. Don't let their diminutive size fool you, the professionalism of this troupe of 4th-7th graders captivated throughout in Rhonda Valencia and Kathy Wood's arresting insect-inspired choreography. FlyKiDs Rebecca Krienitz and LaDonte Lotts are two youngsters to watch. Even smaller, but equally adorable, were the children from the Planet Funk Kids Camp in their intermission show. These mini hip-hopsters possessed confidence, panache, and total command of the stage. A little bit taller, but no less slick, were the five tapping teens from The Dance Factory's Performance Company who dramatically rose from the orchestra pit. The program note succinctly reads, “Tap Beats is an entertaining piece that combines rhythm, perfect timing, and talent that will certainly wow the audience.” All true, and I would add charisma to that description; these young women—with their beaming smiles and clean technique—charmed throughout their snappy number. Shawn Welling's Planet Funk cleverly strung together vignettes inspired from classic and contemporary films in a fast moving and highly surreal entry. Seamless transitions in costume, set, and choreography made for a playful guessing game. The “Stand by Me” section proved strongest while The Lion King and Pirates of the Caribbean still seemed to be in the sketch stage. I appreciated the nod to Flash Dance, a movie that featured the famous B-boyers Rock Steady Crew. Hip-Hop historians credit their appearance in opening the floodgates to hip-hop's viability in the commercial world. On the world front, audiences were treated to the stirring performances of Daleena Abraham of Anjali Dance Company, Laura Uribe of the Spanish Institute of Dance, and Jocelyn Lo of Dance of Asian America. The Barbara King Dance Company showed off some global finesse as well in their ballroom blend of Tango, Rumba, and Paso Doble. The stunning lead dancers delivered terrifically polished performances. Unfortunately, the background theatrics fell flat and detracted from their dancing. Jeremy Choate dressed the show in dramatic lighting which made each troupe look distinct. His sense of rhythm keeps getting better. Choate's contribution punched up the professionalism and truly saw to it that we were seeing these groups in their best light. Did you see a troupe that moved you? Well, I hope it also moves you to follow them to their next show. To make a festival work, you, the audience, take the next step. Cody conveniently included contact information on all the participating groups and their upcoming performances. It was truly wonderful to see so many new faces up on that stage. And what a joy to see so many new dance people in the audience, say about 750 of them. Y'all come back now.
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