Feb 22

Written by: Mark Carboni
2/22/2009 8:46 AM

Last evening I attend a performance of the Dance Collective's "Choreographer's Lab" Performance. Okay, so I am not a professional dancer nor have I taken formal dance lessons. I have danced on a stage while in high school and then in December I danced on a platform wall in a bar, so I can honestly say I don't have much idea what dancing truly is ... with that said ... hmmm!

Okay, all three of you know that I am not a huge kid fan ... I mean yes in photographs they are precious - sometimes - and other times when they are playing with a puppy in a field of clover, yeah, yeah, yeah they are just dandy as candy. Well, one scene were 10,000 maniacs err 15 kids that jumped and hopped, and rolled and screeched and slapped until even the Teletubbies would have given up the ghost. Not one of my favorite performances. One was pretty ripe with freshness. The dancers, without any stage lights, danced with palm lights to represent a firefly. This worked for me.

I was troubled when the Artistic Director had an active role in the performance. She performed, she talked, she chanted ... I thought I was watching a one woman show ... I have to question, is there no one else in the community that could have danced in her place? As the director, it seems like she blurred the line of allowing people to express themselves through dance and learn to be on a stage with that of an oversized ego. Oh well, what do I know, maybe all performing troupes have the director front and center.

The final one was truly "not Fort Wayne" and I loved it. The Director of Dance Arts Theatre presented Concerto for Dancers. Three parts and one better than the one prior. Really enjoyed it - mind you it lasted six minutes.

Okay, so the night ends and we make our way over to Club Soda where of course we had impeccable service from the second we walked into the door - not every joint is blessed to have a Supermodel at the front door! I devoured a New York Strip steak at 10:00 p.m. and a fist full of martinis and luckily I was not the DD this evening because they hit me like a ton o bricks.

It was a grand evening with much out of my comfort zone - but I enjoyed it.

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