Detroit Dance Collective.

May 11-12, 1995 Reviewed by Kate O'Neill

Inanimate objects shared the spotlight with company members at Detroit Dance Collective's fifteenth-anniversary concert. A dancer's rigid, conical skirt became an independent prop, taking on a life of its own; dancers, swirling capes became partners in the dance.

Props, costumes, and slide projections are typically important elements in the work of founders, artistic directors, and choreographers Paula Kramer and Barbara Selinger. For this special program the two collaborated with a number of visual artists and a musician to create four new works and mount two revivals.

In the evening's opener, Selinger's Mystic Sky, dancers and capes floated across the dimly lit stage like billowing clouds in early morning. Later, red light bathed David Guzman, leaping, in what seemed to be a ritual dance to the sun. John Woudstra's poetic light designs enhanced the sense of ritual and communion with nature.

Kramer's Sentinel presented a stark contrast. Inspired by a New Yorker article by Lawrence Weschler, the dance is a tribute to those who have borne witness to human-rights violations around the world. Without resorting to pantomime or literal gestures, Kramer presents a chilling portrait of three women withstanding physical and mental pressures, their faces always turned out and up toward the audience as if searching for those who would hear them. The intensity of this work was almost unbearable until the final moment, which brought the dancers from scattered positions on the stage solidly together in unison movement.

Selinger's solo, Telltale, overflowed with whimsical visual images as she skimmed across the stage like a water bug, her feet completely hidden in the rigid skirt designed by Bernadine Vida. Meanwhile, on stage right, projections of Claudia St. Peter's colorful collage of birds, animals, and quiltlike patterns also clamored for the audience's attention. But in the end, my eyes always returned to Selinger's quirky movement, with its sudden changes in direction and hands springing to her mouth, as if suppressing a secret. As so often happens, this tale-teller was even more intriguing than her tale.