Dance Houston Does Houston, March 17, 2006, Hobby Center's Zilkha Hall
Well, they tried. This show promised to do the same thing as the Travesty show - give a portrait of Houston, warts and all. Unfortunately, it was not as sucessful.
I've seen one other Dance Houston production, the show in 2003. It was your standard multi-company performance, where each company performs one or two works, and the show covers the spectrum of dance. (I used to participate in such shows, with my ballet company, at Mountain View College in Dallas. That's where I started my tradition of eating peanut M&M's before performances.) This show was different; rather than gathering companies, DH gathered dancers and chorographers and put together a show with a central theme. It worked pretty well in the first act, but fell apart in the second.
The program helpfully informed me that there was an Act One called "A Warm Welcome" and an Act Two called "An H-Town Mythology Case Study No. 1." That's as specific as it got - there was no clue who choreographed what, what the various sections might be called, or who danced specific parts.
A newcomer to Houston provided a thread for the first act - he encounters IAH, downtown, rain, traffic, and mosquitos. He mostly disappeared in the second act, which had a few sections that were hard to relate to the Houston theme. The highlight of the show was the introduction of four human-sized mosquitos, all female, and all cleverly attired with bug eyes, antennae, wings, and proboscis. A narrator read an encyclopedia entry, and the mosquitos brough the words to life. The rain dance was done by a lone female dancer wearing an awesome hat and was Asian in flavor. It would have been nice to know more about the style.
The second act had few high or even middle points, although the opening section about refinery workers was effective, and the 20's jazz section was at least entertaining. In other sections, some dancers were looking at other dancers to see what they should be doing. I heard later that they'd just finished some of the dances the day before - not too professional.
I've seen one other Dance Houston production, the show in 2003. It was your standard multi-company performance, where each company performs one or two works, and the show covers the spectrum of dance. (I used to participate in such shows, with my ballet company, at Mountain View College in Dallas. That's where I started my tradition of eating peanut M&M's before performances.) This show was different; rather than gathering companies, DH gathered dancers and chorographers and put together a show with a central theme. It worked pretty well in the first act, but fell apart in the second.
The program helpfully informed me that there was an Act One called "A Warm Welcome" and an Act Two called "An H-Town Mythology Case Study No. 1." That's as specific as it got - there was no clue who choreographed what, what the various sections might be called, or who danced specific parts.
A newcomer to Houston provided a thread for the first act - he encounters IAH, downtown, rain, traffic, and mosquitos. He mostly disappeared in the second act, which had a few sections that were hard to relate to the Houston theme. The highlight of the show was the introduction of four human-sized mosquitos, all female, and all cleverly attired with bug eyes, antennae, wings, and proboscis. A narrator read an encyclopedia entry, and the mosquitos brough the words to life. The rain dance was done by a lone female dancer wearing an awesome hat and was Asian in flavor. It would have been nice to know more about the style.
The second act had few high or even middle points, although the opening section about refinery workers was effective, and the 20's jazz section was at least entertaining. In other sections, some dancers were looking at other dancers to see what they should be doing. I heard later that they'd just finished some of the dances the day before - not too professional.
Labels: performance review
posted by Silvershoes @ 6:58 PM
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