James Madison Dancers Visit Dogtown Dance Theater

Located in Manchester on 15th Street, The Dogtown Dance Theater is home to local dance company Ground Zero Dance. This past Saturday the theater has visitors in the form of the Virginia Repertory Dance Company, based at James Madison University. The RTD was there and had this to say about the performance;

My favorites of the evening were two quite different pieces that demonstrated the range and versatility of the group. The opening work, “Crossing,” by New York-based choreographer Kelly Bartnik, explores a search for identity, using changing levels, sliding, tilting off-balance, and a buildup of momentum that emphasizes the physicality and enhances the intensity of the work.

Carol Finley, a choreographer from Raleigh, N.C., created the delicious solo, “Funny.” Dancer Joanna Rose, dressed in a man’s suit with a gigantic red flower on her lapel, offered five repetitions of the same physical comedy routine with slight variations. She increased the intensity and the speed, and emphasized the movements until, exhausted, she slumped off the stage in dejection. “Funny” is a small masterpiece that recalls the Everyman character and touches a compassionate nerve.

Artistic director Shane O’Hara performed “Strange Hero,” the signature solo of American dance pioneer Daniel Nagrin. The gestures and poses, from a hand formed into the shape of a gun to a pantomime of a brutal beat-down, use a spare jazz dance idiom to paint a portrait of a 1940s gangster.