HQ Review: The Big Muddy Dance Company’s BLAZE
The Big Muddy Dance Company presented Blaze, its final show of the 2022-2023 season, from Friday, May 19 to Saturday, May 20 at COCA’s Berges Theatre. This review will focus on Friday night’s show, which the company performed in front of a packed house. The Big Muddy Dance Company will also stream Blaze online Friday, May 26, through Sunday, May 28. The Big Muddy performed three pieces in this evening-length show, in which the dancers embodied choreography that displayed contemporary movement that was both fluid and strong. Each piece had its own choreographer and concept, which treated the audience to a variety of dance to enjoy in one evening.
Blaze started the show with a world premiere of “In the Cedars”, directed by Elizabeth Corbett. Corbett also choreographed this piece in collaboration with the full company of 15 dancers. Featuring five different instrumental music pieces and recorded spoken word from the dancers, the piece centered on answering the question, “What moves you?” Dancers answered that question in their recorded responses, which included everything from the memory of a favorite choreographer, to the synopsis of a favorite Broadway musical, to being a mother. The dancers’ expansive movements opened with gentle, legato choreography fitting to the music that they were dancing to at the time. The music later shifted to a more upbeat tempo but still maintained the calm quality that had begun the piece which also carried to the end. The choreography also featured many level changes in the dancers’ bodies as they moved across the stage, as well as several partnered lifts. The warm glow of small candles in cups sitting downstage subtly contrasted the blue and gray color scheme in the costumes and lighting that shifted from bright to dim and back again.
“Vanity Fare”, a company premiere choreographed by Marcus Jarrell Willis, began with five black boxes spaced evenly apart upstage under dim lighting. These served as pedestals for five male dancers to stand on, frozen in their movement as if they were mannequins displaying the brightly colored shirts and dark pants that they wore for their costumes. They, along with another male dancer and a female dancer who performed together during much of this piece, were the only dancers to perform that relied heavily not only on the dancers’ strong technique and versatile movement styles, but also the use of body language and facial expressions to tell the story. Performed to a mix of upbeat music and spoken word, “Vanity Fare” featured impressive unison among the dancers, as well as a large dose of humor. The audience responded especially enthusiastically with both laughter and applause to the section of the piece that featured the spoken word poem, “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)” by Baz Luhrmann, and was a highlight of the evening.
Blaze closed the evening with “Dance”, choreographed by artistic director Kirven Douthit-Boyd. Separated into five sections and performed to string music by Anne Clyne, each section featured different dancers before the full company concluded the piece. Wearing navy blue costumes of various designs, which the warm stage lighting contrasted, the dancers executed choreography of different tempos that displayed strong ballet technique, rock solid balance, exciting partnered lifts, and buoyant leaps that defied gravity repeatedly.
The audience received The Big Muddy Dance Company’s performance of Blaze with loud and enthusiastic applause, both during and after the show. Blaze featured powerful dancing, touching stories, lighthearted humor, and exciting choreography that took the audience on a journey with each piece, and was a strong finish for the company’s 2022-2023 season.
Photos by Kelly Pratt
