Shawn Harper
Kanopy Dance’s final production of each annual performance season typically welcomes spring with an eclectic program that is often lighter in tone than the company’s other shows. I’m sincerely hoping Bloom (presented by Earthling Interactive) will usher in sun and warmth instead of the flurries that swirled outside of Overture’s Promenade Hall on Friday's opening night.
Bloom, which has one more performance on Sunday, April 10 at 2:30, includes works from established choreographers. And it also showcases company dancers presenting their own choreography, including some true standouts.
“34 North, 140 West” from Kiro Kopulos shines a light on humans’ cavalier attitude about our environment as evidenced by the clogging of our oceans with trash. The title refers to the location of the floating trash island in the Pacific. Co-artistic directors Robert L. Cleary and Lisa Thurrell appear, looking like gleaming Teletubbies, and unspool endless yards of plastic sheeting hidden in their puffy suits. They strip down to glittery spangles while Kopulos slowly unfurls his limbs from beneath a hiding spot.
Sarah Nesleer Wolf’s premiere of “Walk Beside Me…” had some nice moments and no shortage of accomplished dancing, but the music (which sounded like the soundtrack to a trailer for an epic movie) sometimes overwhelmed the subtle dancing.
Thurrell’s sister, Ede Thurrell, a New York-based choreographer and dancer offered “Living End I and II.” Inspired by modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan and the music of David Bowie, “Living End II” was the more interesting of the two for me. I’m drawn to glittery things, so David Quinn’s sparkling, glam-rock genie costumes for Alyssa Jendusa and Olivia Claire Rivard coupled with Brad Toberman’s celestial lighting captured my fancy, along with the dancers’ sexy robot moves with iconic skips and Grecian poses (a la Duncan) against a medley of Bowie tunes.
“Paradiso” from Anna Betz was inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy and has Dante (Brad Orego) ascending to the first realm of heaven surrounded by graceful and angelic dancers in elegant, swirling costumes. Rivard and Jendusa are standouts here, in very different roles.
Earning a well-deserved standing ovation on opening night was Christopher Aponte’s signature solo “Bolero,” danced by Juan Carlos Díaz Vélez who first performed the role in 1989 while a soloist for Aponte’s Spokane Ballet. The inventive work is a study of the relentless rigors of ballet, set to the driving force of Ravel’s famous music. Díaz Vélez, clad in warm-ups sits underneath a ballet barre, his slippers set out before him as the snare drum ushers in the swelling score. One arm rises to rest over the barre and the rest of his body soon responds. The solo is punishing, rigorous and surprising. Díaz Vélez sheds his layers and purposefully places his slippers on his feet as the demands of the choreography rise in a crescendo to match the score. Stripped down to tights, Díaz Vélez is both vulnerable and powerful. Always a beautiful dancer who combines enviable technique and committed artistry, Díaz Vélez is the best he’s ever been at Kanopy, a marvel of sinewy precision and intensity. There are other pieces on the program that entertained, amused and even confounded me, but it would have been satisfying enough to have only seen this one piece danced by this man.
“Aces in Your Future,” choreographed by Maureen Janson for Jessica Hoyt, was another bright spot on the program. Hoyt is a lovely, well-trained dancer who reveals more versatility and self-assurance in this piece, incorporating hip-hop influenced popping punctuated by intense falls to the floor. Hoyt is like a beautiful but malfunctioning cyborg whose sputtering movement is endlessly fascinating.
Brad Orego’s exploration of computer science algorithms, “Input/Output/Search,” proves him to be a capable and mature choreographer who has a nice sense of spatial design and employs repetition to good effect. Betz shines in her white halter dress with her crisp technique and sunny attitude as she winds around her brightly clad castmates like Alice in Wonderland.
Brienna Tipler’s “Passage” gave the Kanopy Dance II company members a chance to show what they have been working hard on during their Graham technique classes.
Closing the evening was New York choreographer Stanley Love’s campy and kitschy romp, “The Love Number.” It’s a colorful romp (courtesy of Quinn’s orange and pink sherbet costumes) which brought to mind the dancing in cheesy 1970s variety shows — not that that’s a bad thing. You can’t help but smile and think spring when Díaz Vélez, Carlos Ramirez- Araugo and Orego parade past as regal Vegas showgirls.
