Review
PIVOTING ECHOES
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks
Choreographed by Vicki Adams Willis, Kimberley Cooper, Hannah Stilwell and Joanne Baker
Runs until January 17
Max Bell Theatre (Epcor Centre)
Decidedly Jazz Danceworks’ Pivoting Echoes is being advertised with a gorgeous image: multiple exposures of an upright bass, combined with multiple views of an enraptured dancer.
The instrument looks as warm, sensual and alive as the woman. In fact, they seem to merge. It’s perfect, because the bass, masterfully plucked, bowed and picked by guest artist George Koller, turns out to be the heart of this production. If you’re a jazz or world music fan, you should not miss this virtuoso while the DJD troupe grooves each night to his remarkable, genre-crossing compositions.
Koller, based in Toronto, has worked with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Bruce Cockburn and Jane Siberry. Of all DJD’s musical collaborators over the years, few have impressed as much, or looked and sounded as enthralled by the dance, as this bald-headed string wizard.
Joining him onstage are vibrant Toronto vocalist Julie Michels and DJD’s usual musical director, Kristian Alexandrov, on percussion and keyboards. Alexandrov is a wizard himself, but I don’t suppose I am the only audience member who is beginning to hear a sameness in his sound from show to show.
The same can be said of the choreography in Pivoting Echoes – it’s enjoyable enough, but not particularly distinctive or memorable. I wish I could say that the company has outdone itself in celebration of two decades of professional work – a remarkable milestone for a unique company – but it appears we’ll have to wait for the big 20th-anniversary show in June to see it pull out all the stops.
Pivoting Echoes has a cost-saving look about it, with virtually no set, and casual costumes of tank tops and cotton pants. Like many DJD shows, it has a unifying theme that helps to market it – this time it’s the notion of karma – yet the pieces could be interchanged with those in virtually any DJD production. Mixing elements of African, Latin and East Indian movement with contemporary influences, often experimenting with balance, weight and collapse, choreographers Vicki Adams Willis, Kimberley Cooper, Hannah Stilwell and Joanne Baker also maintain their allegiance to good old classical jazz.
In fact, one of the strongest pieces is Willis and Baker’s decidedly old-fashioned A Soft Place to Fall, which weaves a delicate, shimmery spell as the dancers go whisking across the stage, actually pointing their toes. The work then builds intensity with a marvellous athletic duet, created and danced by two talented additions to the company, Jeff Retzlaff and Gibson Muriva. Here’s hoping that the latter, a native of Zimbabwe, stays around to delight us with his cat-like grace and his compelling example of how African movement looks when it’s in the blood.
The 10-dancer company is in a rebuilding phase, with several young apprentice types getting first chances to perform. One hopes they’ll acquire the poise and skill of much-missed members like Natalie Poissant and Sarisa Figueroa Ringland. Then again, there’s such a thing as charisma that can’t be taught. Case in point? The electrifying Cooper, who, along with Koller on bass, is worth the price of admission.
When three other dancers perform an infectious funk number, they look more or less like talented movers you’d notice shakin’ it in a club. In comparison, Cooper nails every nuance, communicating to the back row of the theatre such jaw-dropping soul that you can’t possibly look away. It’s the difference between a capable dancer and a true performer. Long may she funk. |
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