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Show 6 - ; VIEW MAGAZINE THURSDAY, Ilew Poirixs of View A preview by Kimberly Richardson detour: n. la deviation from a Not Dance ry Company includes such an exploratory loop in their season with their upcoming performance, Detour a showcase of the choreof ography company dancers. Enthusiasm for the Detour project pervades the company, and has done so from its first mention. As company member Patrick Damon Rago recounts, "When company Joan Woodbury brought it up last year, she got six 'yeses' across the board." Each dancer meets the choreographic challenge differently, both in process and theme. An athlete throughout high school, Patrick Damon Rago's continuing love of sports inspired his Full Court Press, I piece "about physicali-tathleticism, and a Uttle bit of competition... You could almost say ... aggression." Rago thought out the theme and structure of his dance on paper before he created movement and integrated dancers. The work features five male dancers and popular music such as y, the Distance" by Cake. referee character, played by Rago himself, interrupts the action periodically to send a dancer out of the dance to the "penalty box." Eventually, "it just ends with one "Going A guy plugging away." Ririe-Woodbu- which dancer to remove. "Whoever I feel ... is really going for it is not going to get taken out, " he explains, "but if I see someone start slacking a Uttle ... someone looks tired, they're going to get taken out." In effect, the choreographic process of Full Court Press continues live. Company member Julie Manchester began work last summer on her contribution to Detour, a piece entitled Far 2 Close. She started with an idea to use a duet between a man and a woman to discuss issues of power struggle and imbalance within love relationships, and was surprised by the tenderness of the duet that emerged. For this concert, Manchester expanded the piece to include a second couple. Dancers Natalie Berger both and Juan Carlos Claudio close friends of Manchester were so touched by the original duet that they asked Manchester to include them in her revised version. Manchester agreed and reworked the piece. She first choreographed a new duet for her friends, then inter-wov- e segments of the two duets. "I want to have it be beautiful and passionate and inspiring for the dancers," she muses. As for a revised theme, "It's about the women," Manchester explains, "and the different ways you can All I could frjg P V l sM' h the Delta Windy MONDAY, DEC. 15 DECEMBER ""'Final Junction n2.. .livE SA Cats Naomi -- 13 SU.. pCOJ5TIC6Q(lTT16.. ww-ZIONTRI5E MUSIC NIGHTLY AT 9:30 p.m. LUNCH SERVED ALL DAY . Monday through from 11 :30 a.m. uve Music Friday Dance Company's Detour ry Asrfey Sowe and Brandin Steffensen rehearse "Far 2 Close", Julie Manchester's quartet about the work and struggle involved in love relationships. either take control, or you can give up control, or you can find a balance in a relationship." Stephanie Sleeper, a senior at the U, was invited to submit her . "Kaleidoscope" to the Detour concert as a result of its successful premiere with Wasatch Dance Collective early this fall. Inspiration for the piece came from a trip to New York City, where she recalls "everything around me was man-made- ." think as I listened to the piano was, "Oh, Schmidt! I'm gonna cry." The Jon Schmidt Christmas Concert was, to put it mildly, absolutely marvelous. lovely Expecting a typical pianist concert I was yet teetering on the boring side frankly overwhelmed by the clever and charming Jon Schmidt. Schmidt jumped from moving stories about his children to hilarious campus comedy with the smooth flow of a seasoned performer. Somehow he also managed to fit in brilliant renditions of "I Saw Three Ships" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," along with several other holiday favorites. Many included the added talent of the University of Utah A Capella Choir. With all this in the first half, things only got better .from there. but three in nine of the entire concert. The concert promises to be eclectic representative of the of choreographic ideas and diversity life experiences found among its Her first reaction to New York evolved into the basic spatial concept for her piece. with 1 associate man-masquareness," she says. She then overlaid a complex rhythmic strucindividual dancers or small ture groups moving in and out of rhythmic synchronization pedestrian movement, and sound to create an urban scene. The pieces described above are de Intermission was announced not by the standard: "We will be back in 15 minutes," but by a rambunctious halftime, "Traditional Throwing of the Balls" that gave the rather reserved audience a chance to act like real Utahns at a Jazz game: wild, rowdy and having a great time. The concert continued with Schmidt performing more piano pieces, including his most popular number "Waterfalls." break in the show, announced in the program as "Interruption of Program," proved to be one of the greatest parts of the entire perA formance. Though it began with a "Pet Trick" that didn't quite work out comically, the "interruption" was enormously entertaining and extremely effective. For one skit, Schmidt chose three children out of the audience to pick three notes with young choreographers. Detour plays Dec. 11-1- 3 at 7:30 PM at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased through ArtTix (355-ART- at the or Capitol Theatre box office. which he would write a special song just for the night's performance. One of the children a darling little boy named Christian provided one of the biggest of the evening. When asked what he laughs wanted for Christmas he replied in a most serious manner, "a flashlight," to which Schmidt replied, "Boy I wish I was your parent." Also in the highly amusing interruption, a blues jam done with a young volunteer from the audience was startlingly good better, I'm sure, than Schmidt himself could have expected. Nearing the end of the break, Schmidt received a "phone call" informing him that Harry Connick, Jr. would be unable to do the vocal solo. Shyly, Schmidt broke it to the audience that he would have to do it himself. Schmidt electrified the stage with a rockin' performance of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," complete with dancing and playing the piano sitting upside down. Schmidt wrapped up the "interruption" with "The Christmas ong, (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)" sung with all the words hysterically interpreted quite literally. After more music came another delightful break, this time done by Werner Schmidt, Jon's father. He did an adorable stand-u- p routine while Jon Schmidt watched lovingly from his piano bench. The two then performed a moving duet with Werner Schmidt on the harmonica to a German Christmas carol "Siisser Die Glocken (Sweet Are The Bells)." The performance drew to a close with a very touching "Silent Night" that included the choir, with the audience joining in on the third verse. There wasn't a dry eye in Kingsbury Hall by the last "Jesus lord at thy birth." The Jon Schmidt Christmas concert ended with a standing ovation. I left a touch of Christmas with campus Friday night a spirit and new favorite pianist. well-deserv- TIL MIDNIGHT root darts food I6S SCXJTH WEST TEMPU 1997 until the performed moment the referee, decide Schmidt's Songs, Skits, and Silent Night thgBlue Goat DECEMBER does Rago, as direct course or the usual procedure or 2 to send by a circuitous route. The of 11. 328-0OA- T Jenn Henry |