Written by Debra Lynn
The BC Movement Arts Society turned up the cultural dial on the North Island again with a dance performance entitled, “Just Another Beautiful Moment in Movement.”
It took place in Sointula on March 7, at the Gate House Theatre in Port McNeill on March 9, and at the Port Hardy Civic Centre on March 10, featuring highly credentialed professional dancers from Ontario, Alberta and BC.
The story behind the dance, as stated in the BCMAS brochure, is as follows, “Five friends meet on a park bench and share connections and friendship through their love of hip hop, tap and contemporary dance.”
The five dancers are contemporary youth, dressed in contemporary casual attire and “hanging out” by a bench and a streetlight. Their “conversation” is conveyed through different styles and moods of movement, portraying the many aspects of a time of life that can be rife with confusion, fun, intensity, friendship and possibilities.
The show starts out with a tap number by Zachary Burke (who also directed and choreographed the show). Unlike tap dancers of old with their suits and bow ties, he is tattooed and dressed in a muscle shirt and khaki pants. Rather than sporting a big 50s-style “show biz smile,” he has a solemn and intense expression. The dancer is alone, thinking and feeling with his feet. He is preoccupied, intense, looking inward, thinking about his life, trying to sort things out. It is almost an interaction with himself, or an argument with himself, a representation of the way young people might struggle with alienation and finding their identity.
It’s one thing to see tap on the screen, but in person, it is quite a powerful experience. The sound is sharp and intense and reverberates in your chest. Tap isn’t just to be seen, it needs to be felt, sound waves and all, to have the full experience.
The dancers then explore different interactions of youth through dance. Julien Naud did a couple of “messin’ around” hip hop solos. The women, Kiara McIlravey and Jenna Homan, performed a ballet-like contemporary jazz dance that alluded to the intensities of love and loss. Julien Naud and Shame Simpson expressed enthusiasm and bravado with their very gymnastic, street dance style moves. Choreography was complimented by contemporary songs by artists like Billie Eilish and Drake. Some dances were set to electronic music and spoken word that produced a very enigmatic, dream-like, haunting effect—which might be considered a sign of the times in a world dealing with issues such as global warming.
This variety of styles were knitted together nicely when the dancers moved in unison in a kind of street dance chorus line. Because we are accustomed to seeing street dancers (break dancers or hip-hop dancers) performing solo, seeing five of them perform synchronised acrobatic, sharp and rapid jerky movements made for some serious wow factor.
Although the emphasis seemed to be on the contemporary era, diversions into the past added depth to the performance. Shane Simpson expressed all the “grandness” of days of yore in a 50’s version of tap. The last set was a very upbeat dance from the especially upbeat 80’s to the very appropriate Whitney Houston song, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” Perhaps this is acknowledgement of the similar “connections and friendships” that youth have in every era.
The use of different “genres and eras” created a kind of crystallized representation, an expression of different facets of the experience of youth. The guiding metaphor is “the dance of life,” in particular, as it pertains to young people, and that it is important to “dance with somebody.”
Notable about the show is that, especially after the Whitney Houston number, it left you feeling good all over and maybe even with a spring in your step. Once the show was done, some of the audience might have felt like dancing their way out of the venue to their cars.
I certainly did.
Although the audience was a small group, it was a very appreciative one. The small crowd clapped enthusiastically throughout the show, sounding like it was twice or even three times the size.