![\"Momentum\"](\"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/ea457adccaa9e569cff05de9b4f3b04d_S.jpg\")
<\/a>Momentum<\/em>, the annual showcase of choreography by alumni of Ririe-Woodbury, took place this past weekend. For the first time, it was partially funded by the dance company and included on the season schedule for their fiftieth anniversary. So inclusive was this convocation, that the four performances were split into two programs. It was almost a miniature festival of fifteen dances\u2014a smorgasbord standing in strong contrast to the thematic evenings we\u2019re used to from this group. Much of the work looked rather collegiate, some in the sense of being immature, some simply in that they bore the mark of having been made at colleges and universities.<\/p>\nOne of the most affable pieces was Stevan Novakovich\u2019s \u201cUrban Awakening.\u201d Picture a metrosexual Daniel Nagrin, pretending to smoke a cigarette, drinking some bottled water, then trying to hail an imaginary cab. If you can imagine that, then you have a fair idea of what Novakovich was doing on stage Thursday night. Here was a prissy urbanite, the guy at Starbucks who orders twelve drinks and then immediately takes a phone call. He\u2019s a joy to watch rendered in dance because he\u2019s a character we love to hate.<\/p>\n
Jillian Harris\u2019 \u201cIn Crisi\u201d was similarly silly but fun. Hierarchically, it\u2019s worth noting that hers was one of four pieces set on the current company, commissioned last year by Charlotte Boye-Christensen before her departure. The piece made use of music, espresso demitasse and flamboyant gestures to evoke tired clich\u00e9s of Italian-American gusto and bombast. I\u2019m not sure why all of that was necessary, because it was a million times less interesting than watching the company engage in the complex, lush partnering that made the work worth seeing. The company looks better than ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cstill no words\u201d by Stephanie Nugent was a somewhat underdeveloped, but promising study of company dancers Yebel Gallegos and Alex Bradshaw. Engaging in a similar exploration of relationship and complementary performance textures was Chia-Chi Chiang\u2019s \u201cIII\u201d, a trio comprised of Scotty Hardwig, Florian Alberge and Yasin Fairley. Just that night I had been complaining to my companion about the pitfalls of dances with all-male casts. \u201cIII\u201d suffered from none of the gratuitous posturing or misplaced theatricality I\u2019d been whinging about. There was nothing obviously ingenious about this rather understated work, but it brought something out of Hardwig and Alberge that I\u2019d never seen before\u2013\u2013 a deep quiet, a sense of internal listening. (It was also a pleasure to be introduced to Fairley, I hope to see more of his work soon.)<\/p>\n
The one truly ambitious work was Keith Johnson\u2019s \u201cThe Green is the Unraveling\u201d. As another strong male cast tenderly explored each others spheres of physical intimacy, a green rectangle slowly expanded to fill the cyc. John Allen, Juan Carlos Claudio, Efren Corado Garcia and Bashaun Williams are a quartet I\u2019d love to watch together again. The work was an ode to four other Ririe-Woodbury men\u2013\u2013 Paul Callihan, Robert Martinez, Lynn Walter Topovski and Dennis Wright\u2013\u2013 who the world lost to the AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n