The Games We Play
The Games We Play
Voci Dance
Garden Theatre, Winter Garden Fl</strong>
In a flurry of children’s games, Voci Dance finds an organized set of motions that evoke golden youth yet never recall fussy bed times or persistent “Are we there yet?” while heading to Disneyland. In the opening performance “Tag (Prèlude)” (Choreographed by Adrienne Nichols) four dancers toss a ball of light back and forth until the silent and unlit Lisa Mie captures it along with the last dancer who threw it, freezing the scene. In “Think FAST!” (Choreographed by Genevieve Bernard and Lisa Mie) we see the back wall and loading door to the Garden Theater, with Ms. Mie skulking around, freezing with each jump of the lights like a film montage of a super heroine eluding a laser beam security system on her way to steal the Solarix. After a curiously early intermission, we come upon the oddest dance number of the program – “3 Good Reasons” (Choreographed by McClaine Timmerman and the dancers) An abused folding chair is held hostage in duct tape, with three dancers taking turns berating it and adding to its sticky misery. Clearly the chair is symbolic for the counter party in a failed romance. Dancers take turns explaining in detail what Mr. Chair has done wrong while the others console each other. The most provocative question of the round was “Who put you in charge?” I think the answer is obvious – you are only abused if you allow yourself to be.
While “3 Good Reasons” as stark and troubling, the following piece “Taken” (Choreographed by Genevieve Bernard) returns to the earliest dreams of childhood. As Crayola grade artwork projects on the background screen, the dancers reconstruct the feelings of a long summer with nothing to do but point at the stars and chase the butterflies. As the dance progresses, the symbols grow and age, and the girl’s colorful heart-covered frocks (by Kelledy Francis) transform into proper school uniforms of dull brown and gray. One girl refuses to grow up, but unlike the male-centric bullying of my childhood, these girls protect and help the rebel, and bring her into the fold. The evocative dancers brought a pleasantly large crowd in the sparkly ambience of the Garden Theater, providing a well received and intriguing evening of motion and structure.
For more information of Voci Dance, visit http://www.vocidance.org
For more information on The Garden Theatre, please visit http://www.myspace.com/gardentheatre or http://wgtheater.org</a</em>>
