The Plain Dealer – GroundWorks DanceTheater targets cultural misconceptions with new work on ‘Winter Series’ program (preview)

By Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer

Playful gestures abound in Amy Miller’s “For the Life of Me,” one of three works being presented by GroundWorks Dance Theater on its “Winter Series” concerts this weekend.

Surprise and shock are par for the course when you work in contemporary dance.

But even veteran dancer David Shimotakahara, founder of GroundWorks DanceTheater, was jolted by what choreographer Rosie Herrera demands in “House Broken,” her new work for the company.

In addition to presenting a certain amount of adult content, the artist asks the dancers giving its world premiere on the “Winter Series” this weekend to interact with such mundane but theatrically foreign objects as lawnmowers and treadmills.

“It’s a means of getting at movement in a completely different way,” said Shimotakahara. “I’ll be very interested to see how people react to it.”

There’s a method to what may sound like Herrera’s madness. Behind her use of familiar, clunky machinery in “House Broken” is a keen ambition to expose, explore and debunk mistaken cultural preconceptions.
A Cuban-American living in Miami, Herrera views popular culture much the same way people of other ethnicities view Hispanic soap operas: melodramatic, larger-than-life. And so does she use her new piece to re-present that culture in all its exaggerated glory.

“She likes to take stereotypes and just push them to the point at which they become absurd or slightly painful,” Shimotakahara explained. “She looks at American culture and plays around with all the symbols.”

Playing around with symbols is also a key element of “Luna,” a year-old work by Shimotakahara slated for its second go-around this weekend at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts in Cleveland.

The main symbol, in this case, is the moon. What started out as simply a circle on the stage floor turned into the moon itself and the embodiment of cycles and change.

Working with an electronic score by Oberlin Conservatory professor Peter Swendsen, the choreographer deals in opposites and the surprisingly fluid boundaries between them.

“I was trying to think of a way to work with transitions,” said Shimotakahara. “Instead of having the dancers disappear, I now just have them be on the edge, and that became the structure of the piece.”

The third and final piece on the program, “For the Life of Me,” by artistic associate Amy Miller, is also a reprise. But just because it’s now almost 6 years old doesn’t mean it’s out-of-date, Shimotakahara said.

Based largely on a musical setting of voice-mail messages, the piece is lighthearted and frolicsome, an evergreen blast from the past. For the dancers, it’s a unique challenge, and for the audience, it’s the perfect complement to an eclectic evening.

“It reminds me of that time in our lives when we all felt a little less burdened, when it was easy to be with people and that was enough,” Shimotakahara said. “I’m always trying to put together an interesting range.”

PREVIEW
GroundWorks Dance Theater
What: The company presents its “Winter Series,” featuring works by Herrera, Miller and Shimotakahara.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1.
Where: The Breen Center for the Performing Arts, 2008 W. 30th St., Cleveland.
Tickets: $10-$25. Go to groundworksdance.orgor call 216-961-2560.