The fifth annual Spring Into Dance show featuring the Coast Contemporary Dancers at the Heritage Playhouse last weekend was lacking some of its usual magic this year. Although the fine hand of artistic director Sylvain Brochu could be felt in the choice of visiting dancers, the choreography and the innovative music that we have come to expect, the show lacked a defining solo performance from Brochu.
Yet the short program held its own array of highlights. It is always enjoyable to watch dancer Alison Denham return to her home turf and share a new piece, These Moments Spun, choreographed and danced by her with great skill and high energy.
Visiting performers StARTdance with choreographer Desiree Dunbar gave the audience something new to think about, while Vancouver dancer Anne Cooper married poetry and dance in an interesting interpretation using misquoted fragments from Robert Frost, among others. Although I'm not a fan of fractured verse - after all, the poet's desire was to present a perfect original - this piece, that involved dancing to images, worked extraordinarily well.
The Coast Contem-porary Dancers' new piece, choreographed by Brochu, was entitled A Moment Basking. The costumes by Audrey Paterson used a one-piece hood drawn over the heads of the dancers that gave them an otherworldly appearance. The unusual music by Benjamin Britten and the atmosphere of illusion created an exciting piece that will be travelling to Vancouver in May to be performed in a show with other dance troupes.
The dancers' showcase is usually marked by some buffoonery - something more theatre than dance. This year, Street Minuet, a slow, polite dance humorously portrayed by oddly dressed characters, included experienced dancer Maggie Guzzi who stole the show with her cartoon miming and bottom waggling ability.
Brochu was not happy about his lack of solo spot; he loves dance but has recently been preoccupied with his training in shiatsu. Over the years, he has also moved into the practice of yoga, which feeds his dance. His performance was an experiment, he says, in seeing if Spring Into Dance could live on and be bequeathed to another dancer.
Brochu teaches beginners and intermediate dance and yoga in Gibsons and Sechelt. He can be reached at 604-886-0430 or email [email protected].
