Dancers chaotically spin and leap over rows of plastic water bottles, all of which are knocked over and then gathered in a segment of “The Good Dance.”
Avant-garde African and Aboriginal-inspired contemporary dances will make their way to Albuquerque this weekend and the next at Global Dance Festival.
Santee Smith, an Aboriginal choreographer and dancer, said this show gives a new perspective to traditional Aboriginal dance shows.
“Don’t expect to see a re-creation of a long ago ritual or pow-wow,” Smith said. “You will not see beads, feathers or painted faces. What the performance transmits is a profound connection to indigenous concepts and essence of movements.”
Reggie Wilson, a choreographer from the Fist & Heel Performance Group in Brooklyn, has shown “The Good Dance” in various cities around the country. Wilson said African cultures have a good dance instead of a “good book” as a root to live by. “The Good Dance” demonstrates that instead of a text at the heart of person’s belief, the body is the core. Wilson said it is the tradition of a lot of Earth-based and African religions. “The Good Dance” fuses African and African-American dance styles with modern dance and entertains ideas of culture and the African Diaspora.
Two narrators voice beliefs and traditional Aboriginal sayings along with the music in the background of “A Constellation of Bones.” Smith is from the Kaha:wi Dance Theatre and she will showcase “A Constellation of Bones” as well as excerpts from “Kaha:wi” and “Here on Earth.” Smith said the three dances communicate universal themes of love, duality, cycles of life and honoring the natural environment. The style of the pieces are a postmodern mixture that incorporate high-energy raw movement with traditional dance styles like ballet.
Donna Jewell, head of the Dance program at UNM, said students are fortunate because the artists from these productions are teaching a Master’s dance class at UNM for modern dance students. Jewell said they will receive hands-on training from the dancers and choreographers in each company.
“Without this festival, majors and minors in the Department of Theatre and Dance would not be personally exposed to the high caliber of what is happening in the contemporary dance scene today,” she said.
Susanna Kearny of VSA North Fourth Art Center said UNM students will receive a special discount if they go to both shows. If students attend the first weekend, they can see the dances for free the following weekend by showing their ticket stub. Students can also get a discounted rate of $10 per ticket.
“If students want to see examples of some of the best contemporary dance, this is their chance,” she said.
*“The Good Dance”
South Broadway Cultural Center
1025 Broadway Boulevard S.E.
Friday and Saturday
8 p.m.
“A Constellation of Bones, Kaha:wi and Here on Earth”
April 16 and 17
8 p.m.
N4th Gallery and N4th Theater in the North Fourth Art Center
Tickets can be purchased online at VSArtsnm.org *
