Ormao dancers play with umbrellas in "Canopy"

Red umbrellas � many of them broken � litter the Ormao Dance Company studio.

�They�re not designed for this kind of treatment,� said Janet Johnson, the company�s founder and director.

The umbrellas are victims of �Canopy,� in which they�re used as props. �Canopy� and other new works will premier this weekend at the 12-member female modern dance troupe�s annual spring concert.

�Canopy� is actually a blanket term for five umbrella-inspired works that make up the concert�s second half: �Drying Off,� �Out from Under,� �Cover Me,� �POP!� and �And the clouds parted. . .� The choreographers are Sarah Tietje, Tiffany Tinsley Weeks and Ila Conoley.

With music by such icons as Bob Dylan and ABBA, and ending with � of course � Bobby Hebb�s �Sunny,� it�s decidedly lighthearted. Conoley�s �POP!� is the section that�s been the bane of umbrellas, said Johnson.

Choreographed to the Hollies� �Bus Stop,� �it�s a quartet with a lot of near misses,� said Johnson � �fast, furious and fun.�

Johnson said she hopes �Canopy� will put a smile on audience members� faces � especially because the concert�s first half is much more serious.

�Walk Sleep� was choreographed by Posy Knight, a former Ormao dancer who recently moved to Argentina.

�We told her, you�ve got to leave something of yourself behind for us,� said Johnson.

Knight reworked a piece she�d created a few years earlier for teenage dancers for Ormao�s mature dancers. �The title implies the quality,� said Johnson. �It�s dreamy. The women are in white slip dresses, and they�re lovely.� Danika Bielek�s �A Tangled Quartet� begins with dancer Gwen Phillips �literally dangling by strips of fabric,� said Johnson. �She gets your attention right out of the chute.� �Impending� features four dancers from Pikes Peak Community College�s High Altitude Dance Ensemble.

Conoley�s �Drenched in White� is �inherently intense,� said Johnson, because the music is from Bartok�s String Quartet No. 4, one of the Hungarian composer�s thorniest and most exciting works.

The theme, said Johnson, is how people deal with struggle.

�The movement is as complex as the music,� she said. Ormao programmed two school shows at the Louisa Performing Arts Center last year, but the last company show at the venue was �Flourish,� in the fall of 2006. Johnson is glad to be back. �In that theater, you�re never too far from the audience,� she said. �You can even see the dancers� feet.�


details
Ormao Dance Company presents �Canopy�

When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Louisa Performing Arts Center, Colorado Springs School, 21 Broadmoor Ave.
Tickets: $15 in advance/$17 at the door; 471-9759