The Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco).THE PHILADELPHIA DANCE COMPANY (PHILADANCO) KIMMEL CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS, PERELMAN THEATER NOVEMBER 20-22, 2003 The overarching o·ver·arch·ing adj. 1. Forming an arch overhead or above: overarching branches. 2. Extending over or throughout: "I am not sure whether the missing ingredient . . . theme of Philadanco's thirty-fourth Annual Winter Concert Series was: "We Too Dance ... (African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. Men in Dance)." To be a "Danco" dancer is to dance as though your life depended on it. Sometimes everything comes together to make a euphoric, ecstatic program; sometimes the result is a mixed bag. First among equals in this wonderful ensemble was the unbeatable, knock-'em-dead Hollie E. Wright. She has written her signature across each role, from her sensitive, dramatically forceful work in the late Gene Hill Sagan's powerful Elegy elegy, in Greek and Roman poetry, a poem written in elegiac verse (i.e., couplets consisting of a hexameter line followed by a pentameter line). The form dates back to 7th cent. B.C. in Greece and poets such as Archilochus, Mimnermus, and Tytraeus. , to her sass and style, in leading the women dancers' over the-top rendition of Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's The Walkin', Talkin', Signifying Blues Hips, Sacred Hips, Lowdown low·down n. Slang The whole truth: gave us the lowdown on what happened at the party. lowdown low (inf) n he gave me the lowdown on it → Throwdown. Incorporating elements from Batty Moves, originally choreographed by Zollar in 1995 on her own company (Urban Bush Women), much of the original dance was reduced to an opening solo, gorgeously performed by Wright. The women of the ensemble dripped sarcasm and parodied "attitude" as they shook their stuff in a tongue-in-check celebration of the derriere. It was all delightfully funny and naughty, but without the social context of the original work, the piece was diminished. A program note and more biting stage bit·ing stage n. In psychoanalytic theory, the second stage of the oral phase of psychosexual development, from approximately 8 to 18 months of age, during which a child may express hostility by biting, spitting, or chewing on objects. dynamics would have helped. In keeping with the theme, guest soloists Bernard Gaddis, Christopher L. Huggins, and Zane Booker gave outstanding performances that helped give meaning to so-so choreography. Gaddis and Huggins were electric in Roger C. Jeffrey's Forgiveness (a world premiere Noun 1. world premiere - (music) the first public performance (as of a dramatic or musical work) anywhere in the world performance, public presentation - a dramatic or musical entertainment; "they listened to ten different performances"; "the play ran for 100 ). Booker gave an enlightened, ennobled performance of Sweet in the Mornin'. A company premiere, this dance was a labanotation reconstruction of choreography by the late Leni Williams, as directed by Eleo Pomare (with whom Williams had danced). It is a reference and homage to the "Mourner's Bench" dance in Talley Beatty's classic, Southern Landscape, and, like Beatty's masterpiece, is a solo for man and bench. As Booker knelt, crawled, leaped, balanced, and draped drape v. draped, drap·ing, drapes v.tr. 1. To cover, dress, or hang with or as if with cloth in loose folds: draped the coffin with a flag; a robe that draped her figure. himself over, under, and around the low bench at the center stage, his message was both spiritual and erotic, shouting the sensuality of some forms of religious experience. The program was rounded out by Pomare's Back to Bach (a company premiere) and Huggins's Blue. This is Philadanco's second season as the resident modern dance company for Philadelphia's spanking spanking Pediatrics Corporal punishment, usually of children, in which the buttocks, are pummeled, swatted, or otherwise struck. See Corporal punishment Sexology Slapping, usually of the buttocks as a part of sexuoerotic activity. Cf Sadomasochism. new Kimmel Center--a well-deserved honor. FOR UPCOMING PERFORMANCES Kimmel Center, April 1-3, and international touring. See www.Philadanco.org |
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