The Coast Contemporary Dancers got the jump on dance season with their annual Spring Into Dance recital at the Heritage Playhouse last weekend.
It was as exciting and professional a performance as any that audiences have come to expect from this region that seems to attract excellent teachers of dance. Some of the faces may have changed over the years among the adult group of local dancers who work together to build their repertoire and grow in their discipline, but the high standards are always in place, surely thanks to artistic director Sylvain Brochu. His solo during the weekend show, Marguerite, was funny and charming -an agile clown in a piece choreographed by Massimo Agostinelli, a master of the performance art style known as bouffon, in which the ugly or the socially unacceptable are invited to amuse the beautiful people.But it was the visiting performers who stole the show this year.
Anthony Morgan, in a piece called Tears for the Seventh Generation, was spectacular. Dressed in bow tie and tails and hiding behind a spinning globe that represented the earth, Morgan performed a Mr. Bean-style representation of what we are doing to our planet. It was a winner on three counts. Firstly, it's always nice when the choreographer is also the performer, as in this case, and not just a name on the program. Secondly, the piece was a reminder of the comic qualities of dance and how close physical comedy is to artistic movement. But thirdly -and many of the grey-haired in the audience could truly appreciate this -Morgan is no youngster. He first started dancing in 1971. He has performed and taught in London and New York, dancing with the icon of modern movement, Martha Graham. His career experience, plus his long limbs and lean, muscular physique, lend themselves to his second solo of the show, Leys, a piece based on the concept of the lines that mark the earth's energy. The music by Philip Glass and the white costume that swaddled his body from the waist down added to the originality of this memorable piece.
Two other performers were familiar to local audiences: Coast Academy of Dance students Sammie Broomhall and Christina Fitchett danced a sharp, modern piece using their own choreography. Our House was set to music from Alanis Morissette.Dominique Hutchinson, local choreographer and teacher, is also an experienced dancer and a master of movement. She and Brochu performed a whimsical piece requiring split second timing, Tea Time, which spoke volumes about communication or the lack of it between couples.Brochu is not often seen on stage these days preferring to teach and practise his yoga which he believes feeds his dance. He offers yoga classes in Gibsons and Sechelt and will be leading an intensive session of Vijnana yoga at Hollyhock retreat centre on Cortes Island this July.Several of the Coast Contemporary Dancers, including some who have been with the group for years now -Maggi Guzzi and Yvette Cormier - closed the show with a piece choreographed by Brochu in 2004, Beyond Words. It was a suitable title for a grand finale.
