GroundWorks Dance Theater Cain Park 2011

This evening we were once again amazed and delighted by the small but mighty dance company, GroundWorks.

The program consisted of three works: the always popular "Boom Boom" set to nine blues tunes, "Kabila (Tribe)" set to 5 songs from "African Voices: Songs of Life", and the world premiere of "Hindsight" set to 6 songs by Chrissie Hynde,an Ohio native.

Here is my older post: Boom Boom. Ditto!

The costuming for "Kabila" was definitely spot on. The yellow-and-black abstract fabric used for the close-fitting pants and halter tops for the women evoked Africa.

But the high spot tonight was "Hindsight". Choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett has another hit on her hands. In 2008, she had excelled at creating "Unpublished Dialogues" about Virginia Woolf and which the company so ably performed with Amy Miller as Woolf.

This is the first time that David Shimotakahara has employed projection of images. The pictures of animals nuzzling for "Love's a Mystery" added more humor to the piece while those of Akron for "My City Was Gone" graphically illustrated lyrics such as this, "The farms of Ohio had been replaced by shopping malls."

Felise Bagley was mesmerizing in "Hymn to Her". At the reception that followed I told her that I keep finding myself watching her even when the rest of the company is on the stage. Damien Highfield and she executed some amazing lifts in "I'll Stand by You."

Watch this to see what I mean:

And for those reading this in an email: Felise and Damien

David, if you are reading this, thank you for still dancing. I do watch you when you are on stage!