"Florida Dances'': Eclectic fare at festival

One of my favorite events of the Florida Dance Festival has always been the "Florida Dances'' program, featuring a cross-section of work from around the state, and Thursday's performance was a typically eclectic mix of seven pieces. Want some zany performance art that winds up with a dancer plopping down in a bucket of Reddi-Whip? Amanda Szeglowski's hilarious alpha pups by Cakeface was just the ticket. How about a pair of freshfaced youngsters making like a modern-day Fred and Ginger? Olivia Jordan and Kyle Wynn gracefully filled the bill in the duo The Walls Fell Down by Cari Coble.

Performed to a packed Theater 2 at the University of South Florida, the night got off to a swinging (literally) start with five dancers from Moving Current in Nathan Dryden's The Companionship of Shadows, with two of the women on aerial devices that looked like the coolest playground swings around, to a Gothic score by JoHan JoHannsson. Revolutions Dance (above), featuring two performers in wheelchairs, was spellbinding in Where's the Middle by Kelley Vitorino.

Julianne Arias, Allison Learnard and Darielle Williams danced a funky excerpt from Smoke and Mirrors by Megan Swick. Shelley Dignum and Jasmine Jones were the charming tappers to Summertime. Festival artistic director Bill Doolin showed his stuff with "between the words...breathe!,'' an abstract work for six dancers, with Kristin O'Neal as soloist, that wound up the program on a contemplative note.

The festival's next public performance is the faculty concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at USF's Theater 2. There are nine pieces on the program choreographed by Bill Young, Karl Rogers, Cynthia Hennessy, Augusto Soledade and others. Also on Saturday a pair of Florida dance notables will be honored: Gretchen Ward Warren, recently retired USF dance professor and author of acclaimed books on ballet technique; and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Florida State University professor and artistic director of the New York-based Urban Bush Women.

Posted by John Fleming on June 18, 2010