Body-Vox-2

Feb 2010
Director Zachary Carroll
Performers: Jeff George; Kara Girod; Melissa Kanavel, Jonathan Krebs, Josh Murry

sez says: this band of young dancers is a delight to watch...they are not always a precision assembly...but each one of them has personal powers to develop and they provide a glimpse of  what the future holds in the world of dance.  And that is a happy vision. Jeff George can leap and twirl as if he were born to fly but he seems less comfortable with some of Body Vox classic Body Voice moves.  Jonathan Krebs has energy and enthusiasm to spare but sometimes his movements do not flow as smoothly as you might wish.   Kara Girod mixes sensuous beauty and phenomenal physical strength but needs to learn to present those skills in a more subtle manner -- as if they did not exist. Melissa Kanavel may be small of stature but she has a giant personality that shows through in both her exquisite movement and, most impressively, in the expressions on her face while she dances. She is able to convey the tenor of each dance and her involvement in the body's voice with a sidewards glance, a smirk, a sultry smile. Josh Murry held up his part of the sky but he never rose above the surface to be of note.

Of course these lucky Body Vox Apprentices got to dance some of the company's most fun and enjoyable pieces like THE BUNNY -- which I could start my day, every day, watching.  Equally enjoyable is the Body Vox perennial Hopper's Diner, that full of fun romp of a story, that literally revolves around a dinner table and that is packed with humor and requires perfect timing-- which this troop managed well. Three pieces stood out  1) the USUAL SUSPECTS in which the need To Belong is demonstrated with light humor and a touch of pathos.  2) SOS  flows like water and sets off waves stroking the shore: it is nothing short of beautiful. And of course 3) LIVE WIRE a dramatic fun mechanical explosion, that conjures up robots and space men and plays with synchronization in a tour'd force ending of the show.

The tickets are a little expensive to see apprentices dance--but it always seems worthwhile to support this troupe. And we got a little shot of joy from the show -- which is priceless.  Grade B-