Daily Loaf

The USF Fall Dance Concert lives up to its billing as a “vibrant mélange of ballet, modern, swing and flamenco-fusion.”

Not having seen one of the USF dance concerts for many years, I was very pleasantly surprised at the exceptional quality of dance, choreography, music and costuming. The execution of the dances demonstrated a high degree of quality and professionalism, particularly in the pointe work. This show makes it very obvious that USF School of Theater and Dance has attracted some esteemed faculty and visiting choreographers with impressive credentials.

The seven varied dances, none overly long, provided a perfect amount of entertainment. When so often dance shows are composed of one modern piece after another that all tend to look alike, it was great to see a dance concert that had enough variety to be truly entertaining. Also, it was gratifying to see a number of talented male dancers. From the vantage point of dead-center front row, we could see all of the footwork at close range.

The opening number, “Noches Argentinas,” for my taste, is the best Read the rest of this entry »

I attended the second day of HCC’s Four Days of Dance.  Some dances were performed by students and some by guest artists.  I can only say that I was completely floored by the artistic accomplishment of this program.

The Korean Fan Dance, choreographed by Jiae Paul and deftly performed by HCC students, was a visual treat.  The graceful dancers looked like pink and yellow butterflies.  There was a nice bit of synchronized dance and rolling-fan-wave that created the visual illusion of a dragon.  Lead dancer Sumi Kim’s background in Korean dance is evident in this traditional piece.

Three Iberian Moods was a lyrical ballet piece performed by three dancers on pointe. They handled single pirouettes very nicely, demonstrated good synchronization and lots of attitude.  At times they purposely violated the fourth wall by looking out into the audience.  The three women performed this medium-difficulty ballet with wonderful style and enthusiasm. Read the rest of this entry »