Taking flight

A full slate of classics, new works, and seasonal treats

September 19, 2007 3:26:03 PM

JUMPIN’ FOR JOY: Festival Ballet’s Mark
Harootian.

Rhode Island’s dance scene has spawned and nurtured quite a few New York- and Boston-based artists. In the fall, many of them migrate back to the Ocean State for a residency, a command performance, or to honor a mentor, as in the case of the tribute planned at Roger Williams University for December 1 to honor KELLI WICKE DAVIS, who is retiring as founder/director of Roger Williams’s dance program.

Davis, who has done many productions for Trinity Rep and whose work has been produced around the world, teaches in the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium, consults with several dance companies, and continues to direct dance and theater performances here and in New York.

“She’s a fabulous teacher and is really able to work both in terms of technique and composition,” noted Gary Shore, current director of the dance program. “She finds each dancers’ voice, while at the same time, she commits them to a discipline.

“We were partners in Shoda Moving Company,” he continued. “We coined the phrase ‘movement theater’ way back then, because we mixed theater, mime, dance, masks.”

Dancer, choreographers, and Roger Williams alumni who credit Davis with having an important impact on their careers will take part in the tribute, including SEAN CURRAN, who came to fame in the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, was an original member of Stomp, and has had his own company for the past 10 years; JENNY ROCHA AND CHRISTINE POLAND, who have worked together for 15 years and co-founded the Rocha Dance Theater in ’98; and DEANNA PELLECCHIA of Boston’s Kinodance Company, who specializes in multidisciplinary performances. CATHY NICOLI (on the faculty of Hampshire College) and KATHY SMITH (on the faculty of RWU), both former company members of Groundwerx Dance Theatre, will also be featured.

Four of the guest choreographers, plus Kathy Smith, are setting pieces on the Roger Williams University Dance Theatre, which will be presented November 29 through December 2 at the Performing Arts Center at the Bristol campus. The December 1 performance will include the new pieces created for the Dance Theatre, plus the guest artists doing their own performances. In addition, Davis will choreograph a work to be presented at all of the concerts.

Another artist who is returning to the Providence dance scene this fall is Boston-based dancer/choreographer VIKTOR PLOTNIKOV, who wowed audiences last spring with his modern ballet Coma, which he created for FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE. In October, he will put his special spin on the ballet classic Cinderella (with a score by Prokofiev) for Festival Ballet from October 19 through 21 at the VMA Arts & Cultural Center.

Also on Festival’s autumn agenda are an UP CLOSE ON HOPE series (November 3, 4, 10,11, and 17) at the Leach Grand Studio Black Box Theater, with pieces by artistic director Mihailo Djuric, Mark Harootian, Gianni Dimarco and Plotnikov; and THE NUTCRACKER , December 14 through 16 at the Provi¬dence Performing Arts Center.

Several dance or multimedia troupes will appear during the FirstWorksProv Festival, which runs from September 28 through November 3. The mind-bending, body-bending PILOBOLUS will be at PPAC on September 29, fresh from their perfrormance at the Academy Awards last spring.

Rhode Island composer Steve Jobe has built many hurdy-gurdies and has now written a piece for a trio of them, MUSIC FOR THREE HURDY-GURDIES , that encompasses a 15-member ensemble of dancers, singers, and exotic instrumentalists — i.e., the Minneapolis-based company Three Dances, the hurdy-gurdy player Daniel Thonon of Montreal, and Providence’s Chris Turner on bagpipes.

Providence artist Jamie Jewett will present a new piece by LOSTWAX MULTIMEDIA DANCE THEATER, titled Melt, on October 26 and 27 at the Pell Chafee Performance Center. His dancers will wear tiny wireless video cameras and infrared sensors that will project a mesmerizing mix of live video images with original footage of glaciers, ice caves, and the cycle of water.

The finale of FirstWorksProvFestival will be the internationally-acclaimed BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE DANCE COMPANY, presenting the Providence premiere of Another Evening: I Bow Down on November 3 at the VMA Arts & Cultural Center. Jones and his troupe will perform to live music by Daniel Bernard Roumain and the Bronx-based band Regain the Heart Condemned.

The annual fall concert by FUSIONWORKS , whose motto is “Different is good,” is titled “Different Directions.” In their 21st season, the company will perform new works on November 16 and 17 at Rhode Island College, with an “Unwrapped” concert (notes and introductions to each of the dances) and a “Completely Unwrapped” option (watch the dancers warm up and attend a pre-performance reception) on November 17.

ISLAND MOVING CO. will present a new interdisciplinary piece, Newport Stories, a collaboration with composer Christopher Eastburn, the Boston-based Family Folk Chorale, writer John Pantalone, artistic director and choreographer Miki Ohlsen, and company member and choreographer Michael Bolger, on September 22 and 23 at the Great Friends Meeting House in Newport. The dancers will also perform works from repertoire. IMC will stage their annual A Newport Nutcracker at Rosecliff from November 23 through 30 at Rosecliff Mansion.

JUMP!, the youth company founded by dancer/choreographer Paula Hunter, will give us their version of Cinderella (Not Your Typical Fairy Tale) on September 29 and 30 at the Carriage House Theatre. Based on Cinderella as a janitor at a dancing school, the production includes choreography by Jump! alum Judy Estey and Hunter, and collaborative choreography from the young dancers in many genres, including tap and en-pointe hip-hop. Jump! will also present its annual Scenes from the Polar Express on December 8 and 9.

There’s a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on at the colleges this fall. The PROVIDENCE COLLEGE DANCE COMPANY will perform works by local choreographers Nathan Andary, Lindsay Craven, Kelly Lynch, Wendy Oliver, Caitlin Trainor, and Angelica Vessella on November 30 and December 1. BROWN UNIVERSITY’S FALL DANCE CONCERT will take place November 29 through December 2 at the Ashamu Dance Studio.

At the University of Rhode Island, the musical version of LITTLE WOMEN , a recent Broadway hit, will feature lots of singing and hoofing. Rhode Island College has a strong dance program, with two guest companies returning to create pieces with the RIC DANCE COMPANY and sharing a concert. On October 12, NUGENT +MATTESON DANCE will present two solos and a duet, plus a duet choreographed by Terry Creach, and a new group work with the RIC dancers. BRIDGMAN/PACKER DANCE will make a new dance/video piece and share a concert with the RIC Dance Company on November 30. They will be joined by a videographer, composer, and musicians to present an abridged version of the trilogy Seductive Reasoning, Under the Skin, Memory Bank. Out-of-town dance is also represented in the RIC Performing Arts Series on October 17 at Roberts Hall by BALLET FOLKLORICO, celebrating the rich and colorful traditions of Mexico.

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