Davis Dance Company Sizzles

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

In its second year, The Davis Dance Company, founded by Terrell Davis and Marcus Rameriz, performed its second dance concert at the Mizel Center last weekend. Remember the name. Valued importance gives it star awareness.

Davis Dance Concert

This is one powerful, young company that deserves watching, appreciating and supporting.

Davis danced with Cleo Parker Robinson for six years as a principal dancer. Not only is he a dancer, but a teacher. He teaches at a variety of dance studios, and is teaching the Senior High Perfuming Dance Company at Dance Kaleidoscope with Debbie Stark. Watching him work, relating to the dancers, encouraging them to do things they’re not even certain they can do until they discover he knows what he’s talking about, thrills the spirit beyond measure. He’s a dancer in heart, spirit, and soul meeting the young dancers where they are, taking them to unimaginable heights.

Seeing him perform with his company leaves the soul smiling with joy.

The program was divided into five premier presentations.

The Company began with Life At Home With You, choreographed by Rodni Williams. The music they danced to was by Rochelle Ferrell, Liz Wright, and Palms Down and mixed by DJ Tanastadi, emphasizing home relationships. Williams claims a long list of credits to his name, including the Jay Leno Show, Love In Four Acts for PBS Chicago, has taught at several universities, and is the Co-Founder/Associate Artistic/Director of the Black Dance Festival, Vienna-Austria. An exciting piece of work, even though the synchronization was off several times during the dance, On second thought, Life At Home With You frequently sparks distorted synchronization does it not? It only takes a nano second to break synchronization. Dancing in sync is no small accomplishment, but it jolts the senses when it is off.

Davis choreographed Hearts Off Rhythm featuring Rachel Brady and Ramirez in She’s Off, and Katie Marie Rowden and Davis in He’s Off. Two chairs placed diagonally across the stage served as separation points while the two couples danced to their own music, wanting synchronization in their relationships and not finding it in The Break. The music performed by Robyn, spoke to the difficulty of compatibility. It’s either there or it isn’t. Ah, does human nature understand those words.

Lisa Wood choreographed Polished Brass featuring Keri Wood, Brady, Davis, Shelby North, Therese Patton, and Ramirez. Even with several strong dance combinations, this proved to be the weakest of the five premiered pieces. Moments in between steps translated awkwardly as dancers scurried to get into position. Uncertainty hovered over the dancers’ heads. Wood has been dancing and choreographing in the Denver Metro area for over 25 years, and serves as the President of the Colorado Dance Alliance, beginning her twelfth year teaching at Smokey Hill High School.

With Act II, the company gained momentum and powerful intensity stirring excitement.

The Company generated its own rhythm in sync in spite of the distorted music, defying its own miscalculated programmed blaring

Choreographed by Davis, Girl Talk featured four girls sitting at a table having lunch, all talking at the same time, all having issues they want laid out on the table, all wanting attention. To demonstrate their passionate emotions, each one broke away in dance featuring Blunt, Elani Engelken, North, and Rowden. Each one demonstrated connection, and disconnection, emphasizing her own personal strengths. They counteracted to and with each other, expressing differing opinions, mutual support, and mild rebellion with a touch of anger, competition, capped with a celebration of friendship. The music performed by Sia fed into the reality of four women celebrating friendship in definite individuality, ending with all four at the table talking at once, Friends at lunch will never be the same. I’ll forever see each one dancing her own dance.

Davis also choreographed the last piece, The Time Is Now, divided into three segments of thrilling, powerful, exuberant statements. The Company performed Ready. Patton and Davis performed Touch and Go, and the company closed with Enjoy The Ride. Yes they did, and yes the audience did.

Emphasizing a forceful potency, influential supremacy, and grace in every move, the Davis Dance Company takes the breath away.

In spite of a couple of technical problems, the troupe danced as though no tech problems existed.

Spotlights aimed at specific areas of the stage shone directly into the eyes of the audience, a kin to facing a beaming flashlight, interfering with concentration to movement on stage.

The spots up stage directly facing the audience could have been placed in the wings, to the side, or better yet, unplugged. Spots downstage could easily have been pulled back and aimed directly at the dancers instead of into the audience. Designed by Jen Orf, the colorful lighting scheme of amber, red, green and blue shades reflected truth in the purpose of each dance, but could have easily been accomplished with rafter lights.

In the back of the theatre, the music was so loud it was distorted. Loud music certainly has its place, when in balance. In this case, lyrics became muddled. Words could be heard, but not always with clarity and the distortion of the music left one wondering how the dancers could so beautifully keep up with the beat. The lighting and the music forced extra attention to the performances. There were moments it seemed the dancers moved to a different beat than what the music provided. Tendered moments expressed by the dancers stood in juxtaposition to the harshness of the loud, imprecise music.

A mistake some neophyte production companies make is not checking every part of the theatre for sound and lights. What may be perfect in the first few rows may be a disaster in the back. Once this happens, chances are it will never happen again.

This is one company that is going places. It carries the fortitude, the creativity, the determination, and the expertise to dance its way to the top.

Have some time on your hands? Eager to get back into dancing? Itching to learn something new? The Davis Dance Company can be contacted at www.davisdancecompany.org where classes, events, and opportunities for volunteering are noted. Talk to them. Watch them. Get to know them. Your spirit will say Thank You a hundred times over.