Trudie Lee

DETAILS

twentyfive by Decidedly Jazz Danceworks
Max Bell Theatre
Wednesday, June 3 - Sunday, June 14

More in: Dance

To celebrate 25 years in showbiz, Calgary’s Decidedly Jazz Danceworks has created twentyfive — a retrospective of the company and its production history. Company co-founder and artistic director Vicki Adams Willis, who narrates the performance, has arranged a selection of favourite moments from the stage, as well as a nod to the history of jazz itself, for the evening’s entertainment.

DJD started in 1984, marked by productions Body and Sole (1984), It's About Time (1985), Rockin' in Rhythm (1986) and Peripheral Visions (1987). From these roots, the company expanded into 39 major productions and a significant amount of smaller shows.

Sarisa Figueroa is DJD’s artistic assistant and the show’s rehearsal director. She says the central theme of the anniversary performance is “25 things that have made DJD what it is today.”

“Twenty-five is a lot,” Figueroa admits. “One of those things is Big Miller. We did a great show with Big Miller’s music in 1992 and 1993, and he’s always left a real stamp on Vicki and on DJD. And we do four pieces from that show, No Small Feets.”

No Small Feets was an homage to Clarence “Big” Miller, who worked with jazz legends Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Dizzie Gillespie and Miles Davis. Segments from this work as well as other DJD productions are included in two dance medleys in twentyfive — intended to show off the dynamic range of DJD’s repertoire. Each component is brief, lasting 30 seconds to two minutes.

In addition, the show features works of company co-founders Michèle Moss and Hannah Stilwell that have significantly shaped the company. Moss recently created work for DJD’s 20th anniversary show in 2004, and Stilwell was fundamental in pulling together the cross-cultural exchange and performance of BULLA! A Loud Cuban Jazz Experiment in 2005.

According to Figueroa, some of the other inspirations for the show include tours, designers, choreographers, musicians and dancers with DJD over the years, but most particularly artistic associate and resident choreographer Kimberley Cooper and DJD’s dance school.

“As you can imagine, over the last 25 years, I think there’s been something like 600 dances — it’s epic, vast, with the repertoire that we have,” says Figueroa When people found out the company was putting together the show, feedback and ideas started pouring in. Willis watched videos and went through archives to select audience and personal favourites for the performance.

“The bulk of my job has been to learn the various segments off of a video or DVD that Vicki has told me she wanted as part of the medley. I’d learn that and then I’d teach it to the dancers,” says Figueroa.

DJD has also worked with acclaimed musicians throughout its 25-year history, including jazz pianist Kristian Alexandrov, who is adapting the musical transitions in twentyfive to the strains of Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington, Flora Purim, Rubim de Toledo, Tommy Banks and Alexandrov himself.

He says the greatest challenge is adapting quick transitions for the medleys. “The hardest thing is to jump into the character of the tune right away, and you don’t really have time to develop it. Usually, when you play for five minutes (the music) kind of has a shape. With this one, you go in a particular part of that tune and it has to capture that character really quickly, and then jump out of it and go into something else.”

Alexandrov first started working with DJD for the 1997 production Rhythm Addiction. He enjoys the musical challenges presented with every show. “They always explore new things. I mean, this is my 13th show with them and every show has presented a different kind of challenge,” says Alexandrov. “They are definitely not sticking to a formula.”