{"id":30610,"date":"2015-11-23T17:44:48","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T23:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=30610"},"modified":"2023-11-15T21:12:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T03:12:36","slug":"30610","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/30610\/","title":{"rendered":"RDT’s legacy in REVEL"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tyler<\/a>

Tyler Orcutt (left) and Efron Corado Garcia. Photo by Chris Peddecord.<\/p><\/div>\n

Repertory Dance Theatre\u2019s REVEL<\/em>, the latest installment in the company\u2019s 50th anniversary season, showcased works by four choreographers, each in some way integral to the company\u2019s history and legacy. Throughout, RDT\u2019s eight dancers exhibited zeal for honoring the past as well as diving headfirst into new ideas.<\/p>\n

Jacque Lynn Bell<\/a>\u2019s \u201cShe (A tribute to Virginia Tanner)\u201d featured the company dancers alongside both RDT alumnae who studied under Virginia Tanner and current Tanner Dance <\/a>students (Bell herself studied with Tanner). Among these guests was current RDT artistic director Linda C. Smith, radiant on stage, who at several points kissed each of her fingers as though to express enthusiasm for a well-executed meal. Dancers from all three backgrounds held hands in a circle, periodically melting into shapes in each other\u2019s arms. At one point, a small boy lay down on the floor, not wanting to continue; RDT dancer Dan Higgins picked him up, brought him to center stage and spun him around as the boy began to laugh and dance again. This moment was a touching encapsulation of the mission of \u201cShe,\u201d to honor a seminal figure in Utah\u2019s pedagogical dance tradition.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack,\u201d choreographed by Joanie Smith (of Shapiro & Smith Dance<\/a>), was a whimsical duet to text that spun off of children\u2019s nursery rhymes. The text informed choreographic choices in humorous ways, executed with gusto by Tyler Orcutt and Justin Bass. Both appeared comfortable with the silliness required of them in these roles, and looked equally comfortable in the duet\u2019s virtuosic dancing moments (such as Orcutt\u2019s lithe leaps). \u201cJack\u201d provided easy laughs for all ages, but was peppered with darker humor that allowed adults to re-access these familiar rhymes in unconventional ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cBegging the Question,\u201d a world premiere by Claire Porter, wove together language (from Gertrude Stein) and movement \u2013 at times humorous, at times chaotic \u2013 to explore the nature and persistence of the question. Orcutt, challenging someone to ask him \u201cthe difficult ones,\u201d continued making the contorted face and fist that accompanied his repeated \u201cAsk!\u201ds long after his voice had subsided. He and Jaclyn Brown had a very contrary section where both, nearly shouting, insisted that they \u201cdidn\u2019t do questions.\u201d The dancers popped their heads out of the wings to yell a question at those onstage, only to be dragged back into the wings by a hidden partner (Higgins\u2019 question in this section \u2013 \u201cDid you read my blog?\u201d \u2013 got a good laugh from me, considering why I was at the performance.) A final group section brimming with gestures and repetition morphed into the piece\u2019s surprisingly distilled conclusion: Lacie Scott, lit by just one down-pool, sat mouthing silent questions, as though the dancers had merely been the manifestation of her mind\u2019s buzzing subconscious.<\/p>\n

As a musical interlude, 3hattrio<\/a> (self-dubbed players of \u201cAmerican Desert Music\u201d) rose up from the orchestra pit and were later joined by William \u201cBill\u201d Evans<\/a>, who tap-danced to their Southwest-inspired tunes. 3hattrio\u2019s music was transporting, evoking the types of locations listed in the band members\u2019 bios: \u201cthe edge of the Virgin River\u201d and \u201ca pecan orchard in Virgin, Utah.\u201d Evans\u2019 masterful tapping was a complex complement to the band\u2019s often simple, at times haunting, melodies. Evans spun into the wings to conclude his solo, blowing offstage like a desert tumbleweed.<\/p>\n

Evans\u2019 world premiere \u201cCrippled Up Blues and other tales of Deseret\u201d also featured live music by 3hattrio. Each dancer was paired with a unique, antique wooden chair, and simple yet old-fashioned pedestrian clothing; American West-inspired music served as references to a community of a bygone era. The dancers clapped and stomped, changing hands and partners, and took turns standing on a chair as though giving a public lecture or sermon. Evans paired more lyrical, sweeping movement (a duet between Lauren Curley and Higgins was particularly lovely) with chopping hand gestures and a waddling, straight-kneed walk to exhibit the many facets of this community. Exultant hands and faces turned skyward faded into dancers crumpling to the floor underneath their chairs. They overcame that burden and made it to standing once again, though any frolicking became feebler in this later iteration. The last image, Orcutt balancing on a chair, quaking visibly, was a clear testament to this onstage community\u2019s ability to toil together and to overcome.<\/p>\n

The works featured in REVEL<\/em> touched upon the qualities and strengths that yield a dance company with a well-known and lasting legacy. From nurturing and teaching, to incorporating humor, musicality, openness to collaboration, and honest hard work \u2013 RDT has made it this far for good reason. Evident in their approach to the offerings of the evening\u2019s program, the dancers know they are each a part of this lasting legacy.<\/p>\n

Repertory Dance Theatre’s<\/a> REVEL was performed at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center November 19-21.<\/em><\/p>\n

This review is published in collaboration with loveDANCmore.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Repertory Dance Theatre\u2019s REVEL, the latest installment in the company\u2019s 50th anniversary season, showcased works by four choreographers, each in some way integral to the company\u2019s history and legacy. Throughout, RDT\u2019s eight dancers exhibited zeal for honoring the past as well as diving headfirst into new ideas. Jacque […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1521,"featured_media":30611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2592,1768,2277,2591,2595,2593,1738,1771,1120,2594],"class_list":["post-30610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dance","tag-3hattrio","tag-bill-evans","tag-by-amy-falls","tag-claire-porter","tag-dan-higgins","tag-joanie-smith","tag-justin-bass","tag-linda-c-smith","tag-rdt","tag-tyler-orcutt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/orcuttgarcia.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 07:54:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30610"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71518,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30610\/revisions\/71518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}