Dance company moves to the pace of the rat race
The audience for Ormao Dance Company has every right to expect the unexpected, and this weekend’s fall concert will be no exception. As usual, the modern dance company focuses on new works, and, as usual, there are some new faces in the company.
“We have a number of new dancers, and we have to blend them with the dancers who have been with Ormao longer,” said Janet Johnson, the troupe’s founder and artistic director.
The reason for the turnover isn’t mysterious, she said.
“Dance is not easy. It asks a lot — not only time, but physically, emotionally, and financially.”
But the company’s often innovative and thought-provoking new works also provide great rewards.
“We decided to do three medium-length pieces — 15 or 20 minutes each — instead of a longer program,” said Johnson. “Give people enough to talk about, but not so much that they can’t remember the program.”
The pieces are Johnson’s “Avoid the Void,” John McLaughlin’s “Poe Girls” and Ila Conoley’s “Encapsulate.”
Johnson’s piece “is about not being able to allow yourself that quiet space, that down-time,” she said. “You get in a certain groove, a tempo of life, and it’s hard to get out of it.”
The piece begins with a rat race, and the dancers can’t settle down even during a depiction of sleep.
But there’s a resolution of sorts in the final section.
“It explores the idea of finding peace in being alone even amongst others and amongst activity,” said Johnson.
McLaughlin’s piece — a 200th-birthday homage to the American writer — explores his largely unsuccessful relationships with women. The title “Poe Girls” may sound silly, but Johnson said it’s anything but.
“John draws you in with humor, but gradually takes it darker and darker,” she said. “It’s pretty macabre.”
In addition to eight female dancers, the piece features actor Jesse Wilson as Poe. Wilson is a Juilliard-trained actor who recently performed his “Face the City” at the Business of Art Center.
In Conoley’s “Encapsulate,” the mood returns to something more like the opening rat-race.
“It’s a puffer for the dancers,” said Jackson. “We should have oxygen backstage.”
The piece explores our relationship with time — and especially when we seem to have too little of it.
“There are those periods when time envelops you and gets away from you,” said Johnson. The dancers lose and regain control, and ultimately accept the nature of time.
The deep subject, inspired by Dali’s famous painting, “The Persistence of Memory,” is another instance of Ormao giving its audience something more than beautiful women dancing.
(As if that weren’t enough.)
“Hopefully people will have something to discuss after the concert,” said Johnson.
Ormao Dance
Company’s fall concert
When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Armstrong Theatre, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St., Colorado College
Admission: $15 advance/$17 at the door; 471-9759 or ormaodance.org
