Rhythm In Shoes opens 20th anniversary season

By Burt Saidel

Last week there was an “embarrassment of riches” on the Victoria stage.  Rhythm in Shoes opened their 20th anniversary season with another spectacular concert of innovative dance/comedy/music.  That is rich enough for many dance-starved cities.  Not so Dayton where we have it all!

RIS Artistic Directors Sharon Leahy and Rick Good invited Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, another of Dayton’s wealth of dance talent, to share the evening.  

Both companies live at the very pinnacle of creative imagination. Both companies are packed with talented and beautiful dancers.  Both companies have that spark, igniting audiences everywhere they travel.  As a special treat, RIS superstar Nate Cooper returned from his free-lance touring career to add his special zest to the concert.

Before the concert, DCDC Artistic Director Kevin Ward and dance idols Sheri Williams and G.D. Harris made a special presentation. The Josie Awards, now ten years old, were given to RIS dancer, beautiful Emma Leahy-Good and DCDC’s effervescent star Julius Brewster-Cotton.  These two great dancers have more than a hyphenated name in common.  They are both young, shine with natural talents, and have become central to the success of their companies.

The concert opened with On Tap.  Twenty minutes of tap dancing is usually too much of a good thing.  Not so when RIS dances to the live music of Rick Good and his band.

The eight dancers zipped on and off the stage, leaving a soloist to exude energy and then blend back into the line sending another to do more of the same.  More of the
same?  It was never the same as the eight dancers clicked and swirled in a tap dancing celebration.

Leaving the traditional, RIS performed Sharon Leahy’s Blue Notes.  The stage was a tableau of posing dancers draped around various props.  As the band played and sang compelling blues songs, each dancer evoked the gripping emotions with creative and expressive dance.  

Lovely Gina Burgei literally became a huge cube as she gracefully contorted herself to the music of “Born to be Blue.”  Emma Leahy-Good made a black lace umbrella an extension of her graceful body.  Tina de Alderete did a zesty, almost acrobatic dance, an “anti-blues” statement.

Nate Cooper is a reincarnation of Ray Bolger.  He is a fantastic dancer and a natural comedian.  His antics, so much a part of his own persona, are indescribably funny. On roller skates, with folding chairs, with anything, he is the soul of energizing comedy.

DCDC added a most innovative and moving work.  Kevin Ward’s In a Word is the synthesis of prize-winning poetry by local poets and dance.  The complete work will be featured during DCDC’s opening Celebrate Dunbar concerts October 7 & 8.  The company, beautiful as always, read the poems and then evoked their spirit in dance.  

The concert closed with RIS’s Simple Not Easy.  It is a compelling combination of the very spirit of Appalachian culture.  Dance, music, singing and story telling made an enriching experience, typical Rhythm in Shoes innovation.

The evening was not over. Many of the audience joined the dancers at nearby Club 88 for the “Shuffle Ball.”  Even those of us who are senior citizens were carried away by the spirit of the dancers and the hospitality of the hosts of Club 88.

Richard Krohn has branched out from selling flowers to becoming the official home of the arts on Main Street.  Club 88 will host cast parties and special events for all of the arts.  I can tell you that it is fun, fun, fun.  We plan to make it our after Victoria and after Schuster location.  

Dayton Playhouse Blithe Spirit

Have you ever spent the day at Dayton Playhouse?  Well, I did.  The day began with a performance of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.  Rarely do I attend theater with a chip on my shoulder but recent Noel Coward experiences have left me cold.  His comedies of manners are dated and the plots passé.  

Good acting, fine direction and a stunning set made the performance go from palatable to fun.  Alex Carmichal and Becky Lamb were very convincing as the embattled couple haunted by the ghost of the first wife.  The first wife was a very beautiful ghost, well played by Jennifer Shaw in her debut.

After a short respite, we were back in the same seats for a Dayton Playhouse benefit.  Joan Harrah and Reneé Franck-Reed are veterans of Dayton’s musical and theater life.   I risk life and limb by saying that they have been prominent for a very long time – but that is the whole truth!

Both are excellent singers and have proven to be stunning actresses in many roles.  Their operatic backgrounds were clearly evident as they belted out more than 40 songs.  The music was a combination of Broadway, pop and riotous cabaret songs which had the audience reeling.

The duo was accompanied by the piano of Raymonde Rougier.  Also a veteran and a truly fabulous pianist, she was every bit as much a zany character as Reneé and Joan.

The performance, three hours by the clock, seemed to be minutes long as the ladies never stopped giving it their all.  All I can say is that Shakespeare was right about Joan and Reneé.  “Age does not wither them nor custom stale their infinite variety.”

Oakwood trio among Beauty and the Beast cast

When Disney’s Beauty and the Beast began its 16-performance run last week at the Benjamin and Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, a dozen local young actors will take the stage in each performance, as members of the ensemble in several scenes.

Disney’s beloved “tale as old as time” opened Victoria Theatre Association’s 2006-2007 Fifth Third Bank Broadway Series and ran through Oct. 1.  

Local young actors are integrated into performances at each stop of the show’s tour. The dozen local youth appearing in the Dayton run were selected at auditions held Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Schuster Center.

The local talent cast for the performances at the Schuster Center range in age from 10 to 14. The lineup includes Elizabeth Hary of Riverside, Blake Stuerman of Beavercreek, Kaja Burke-Williams and Keta Burke-Williams of Oakwood, Mary Joan Payne and Jon Payne of Dayton, Kimberly Isaacs of Bellbrook, Lazette Carter of Beavercreek, Daniel Baughn of Kettering, Hannah Wilson of West Union, Sterling Faust of Dayton, and Katie Mauch of Oakwood.

The young actors were on stage in each of the 16 performances, appearing in four scenes, including the show’s opening scene, several scenes with townspeople, and the show-stopping musical number “Be Our Guest.”

Victoria Theatre Association is proud to participate in this experience and hopes the young actors enjoy their time and gain lots of knowledge about the details of professional theatrical production.

For more information about the Victoria Theatre Association’s entire 2006-2007 season, visit www.victoriatheatre.com.

K-12 Nutcracker art contest announced

Dayton Ballet is excited to announce the 2nd Annual Dayton Ballet Nutcracker Art Contest.  Children ages 4 to 12 may enter Dayton Ballet’s Nutcracker Art Contest by submitting original artwork representing The Nutcracker theme by Nov. 3, 2006.  

Select entries may be displayed at the Schuster Center during performances of Dayton Ballet’s The Nutcracker, Dec. 15-23, 2006.  All forms of media will be accepted with winners selected from each age group:  age 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12.  

Various prizes will be awarded to each winner and the overall winner will have their art reproduced on the cover of every 2006 Playbill for Dayton Ballet’s The Nutcracker.  All entries must be oriented vertically with dimen sions of 8.5 x 11 inches to be eligible.  Each piece must include the child’s name, address, phone number and age on the reverse side.  Entries should be sent or delivered to Dayton Ballet, c/o Nutcracker Art Contest, 140 N. Main Street, Dayton, OH  45402.  Only one entry per child will be accepted.  

The winners will be announced on Nov. 10, 2006.

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