Expect surprises at N.C. Dance Theatre's
annual contemporary showcase
By Kathy Haight
khaight@charlotteobserver.com

I always look forward to “Innovative Works,” N.C. Dance Theatre's annual showcase of fresh and inventive choreography .

There's something surprising each year – whether it's dancers belly-flopping on a couch or twitching to a Tom Waits song.

Dance packs a more visceral punch when you see it up close in the intimate setting of the Booth Playhouse, instead of the more formal Belk Theater.

Plus, you won't see a tutu on stage all evening.

The spotlight this year is on three new works and two pieces from the past – all featuring contemporary ballet. Costumes for the premiere of Sasha Janes' “You're So Fine” include hot-pink wigs and micro-miniskirts made mostly of fringe. Another new work, Mark Diamond's “The Chair,” has an urban-camo look.

The two-weekend run begins Thursday.

‘The Chair'

Choreographer: Mark Diamond, program director of N.C. Dance Theatre 2.

Music: Electronic adaptations of Claude Debussy's “Sirens” and Gustav Mahler's Third Symphony, plus music by Thom Yorke of the alternative rock group Radiohead.

Lead dancers: Addul Manzano as the prisoner; David Ingram as the interrogator; Seia Rassenti, Kara Wilkes and Sarah Hayes Watson as the sirens.

Description: A country is only as good as the way its military treats its prisoners. That's the idea at the heart of this world premiere, which opens with a prisoner in a chair.

An interrogator stands before him. Three women dressed as sirens in sleek black leotards move around them to a heavy electronic beat.

Maybe they're tempting the prisoner to confess. Maybe they're reminders of his life outside the prison walls. The sirens appear again near the end of the dance, covered in camouflage fabric in shades from green to pink.

This dark work shows the struggle not just between prisoner and captor but between the prisoner and himself, as he's trapped in a haze of pain and mind games.

‘You're So Fine'

Choreographer: Sasha Janes, Dance Theatre company member.

Music: Australian rocker Paul Kelly.

Lead dancers: Anna Gerberich and David Ingram as the lovers.

Description: This playful romance – with go-go dancers shaking their hips beneath a black light – couldn't be further from “The Chair” in tone. “It's an entertaining take on a new relationship,” Janes says of the world premiere. “Boy meets girl. They fall in love.” Then the boy does something really stupid. Around the boy and girl dance four go-go girls in pink-and-green fringed minis and pink wigs. Parts of their costumes light up like neon. Kelly is known for his storytelling – he's been called the Bruce Springsteen of Australia for the way he evokes a sense of place. Janes, who grew up in Perth, Australia, has been a fan for years.

‘Uhh!' not pictured

Choreographer: Mark Diamond.

Music: Franz Schubert's “Andantino for Piano.”

Lead dancers: Kara Wilkes and Sasha Janes.

Description: A “double-fisted comedic punch.” That's what a reviewer said when Dance Theatre debuted “Uhh!” this summer in Chautauqua, N.Y. It's a short piece – just five minutes – and was a last-minute addition to the program. Dance Theatre artistic director Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux calls it one of the funniest pas de deux he's seen. It helps add balance to a program brimming with intense emotions.

‘Verge'

Choreographer: Dwight Rhoden, NCDT's resident choreographer and co-founder of New York-based Complexions Dance Company.

Music: Electronic music by Antonio Carlos Scott.

Lead dancer: Joseph Watson as the instigator.

Description: This powerful piece created for NCDT in 2002 evokes the feeling of being on the verge of change – and the excitement you get when you're almost there. One dancer knows how to reach the goal, and the others follow him toward a large, red target on stage. The piece crackles with bold, athletic movements.

Of note: You may have seen choreographer Rhoden's hip moves on TV recently performed by finalists for this season's “So You Think You Can Dance.”

‘Constructing Juliet'

Choreographer: Mark Godden, principal guest choreographer for Florida's Harid Conservatory.

Music: Tchaikovsky's “Romeo and Juliet Overture Fantasy.”

Lead dancers: Anna Gerberich as Juliet; Traci Gilchrest as her mother; Joseph Watson as Romeo.

Description: This is not your usual sighing-on-a-moonlit-balcony “Romeo and Juliet.” The focus is on Juliet's relationship with her mother, whose long-standing hatred of Romeo's family poisons her own family and eventually causes her daughter's death. “It's her struggle with her own identity,” Godden has said of Juliet. She wants to break free from the old feud, but her overbearing mother and family won't let her.