Emotions abound in ”contact”
The name of the show is “contact” with a little “c” – and this show’s name is a verb, not a noun. Friday night’s presentation was certainly more about universal human experiences of relating, becoming and transforming than it was about a person, place or thing.
The superbly crafted trio of dance-dramas in “contact” embodied symbolic moments that each of us could embrace. Audience members formed a kinetic connection with situations and characters developed more through dance than dialogue.
Themes encompassed a range of human experience: the exhilaration of the playful, the tantalizing, the erotic; the fear and humiliation of uncomfortable situations; the misery of isolation; the dream of escaping; and, finally, the joy of finding your own dance within your soul.
The show develops these and other ideas through seemingly unrelated vignettes. Each is accompanied not by an original score, but by music that all of us have heard. And in each vignette, transformations occur.
The first vignette, “Swinging,” develops from Fragonard’s “The Swing,” a 1767 rococo painting in a forest glade of a woman in a swing pushed by a manservant and wooed by a courtier. When the servant, Matthew Steffens, moves into the swing with the woman played by Ariel Shepley, he transforms into her lover. The romantic, passionate, amorous fireworks ensue, accompanied by giggles from knowing members of the audience.
The second vignette, “Did You Move,” set in the 1950s in an Italian restaurant, spotlights actress-dancer Candy Brown as a fearful, humiliated wife who longs for escape. Each time her brutish husband goes through the buffet line, her desire to escape transforms her dreams into a dance-drama that is a first a solo, then a duet, and finally an ensemble piece. The performers dance and dream to music by Tchaikovsky, Greig and Bizet. Brown skillfully blends pantomime, acting, clowning and ballet to relate her dreams.
The final and longest vignette opened with Dean Martin’s recording of “You’re Nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You.” This tale is set in the present and features James Blanshard as a pessimistic advertising executive who repeatedly attempts suicide and fails. Dejected and disconnected, he meanders into an after-hours swing club where the customers connect by dancing. The choreography seamlessly blends ballet, modern, jazz and ballroom dance. Each dancer was defined by particular nuances of movement that created individuality without disrupting unity.
Allie Meixner, an intriguing girl in a yellow dress, catches Blanshard’s eye and captures his imagination. Their relationship launches the transformation of a clumsy, inept ad man into a gifted dancer.
See your dreams come alive on the Opera House stage. “Contact” is a not-to-be-missed award-winning show.