Something New!

Last night, the wife and I ventured up the Front Range to Boulder to see Boulder Ballet's latest offering, Momentum. Many of you who know me know that I am not a fan of the dance. Any dance. As a member of the Board of Directors of The Dairy Center for the Arts, one of my responsibilities is to attend performances of the Resident Organizations and the companies that are renting the theaters. I'm glad I did.

For those of you who don't know, The Dairy is a multi-disciplinary arts center, with a number of resident orgs., plus companies that rent space on a regular basis. There is also gallery space with rotating exhibits. Last night, there were three performances, and three new exhibits opening. It was quite an artful evening!

To the Ballet. The theater is an intimate space, seating 150 max, I think I have been told, and it was full. I'm not going to write a critique or review of the program; it's not my job and that's not the point. I'm just going to tell you about what I really liked, and why. And encourage you, if you are in the Denver Metroplex, to go see this.

There were three Interludes, performed by Peter Davison, that were very funny, very unusual. Peter moves very well, creates incredibly unique characters, and made for nice transitions between the pieces.

The second major work on the program was titled Infernal Suite, choreographed by Ben Goodman. It consisted of three pieces, Monkeys, Hindus and Lovers, all very different stylistically, showing Mr. Goodman's range as a choreographer. Of the three, Hindus was a beautiful piece, in tone, color, tempo, music, about a woman who is ill, sick, near death's door, what have you, and is revived by these three other women. The two female principals in this piece, Jennifer Aiken and Jamie Johnson, are just beautiful in this work. Ms. Johnson, especially, has this incredibly focused energy that mesmerizes the audience in this work.

Ms. Johnson was also the focus of the other number that I believe was a highlight of the evening, Versus. Ms. Johnson and Lance Hardin were the principals in this back-and-forth struggle that was deeply textured. The troupe interacted with the two until all ended on the floor in a massed pile, as one living, breathing mass. It was an indelible image. The folks I was sitting with all were talking about it at the intermission.

These were the works that really stuck out. The whole evening was quite enjoyable. I am not slighting any of the other works, only choosing to point out what my favorites are/were. The work runs through the rest of February, into March. Check out their website, http://www.boulderballet.org/, to learn more and to find dates of future performances.