Feelings of love and loss filled the UWM Mainstage Theatre on the opening night of “Summerdances: Essential/Essensual.” The concert of four premieres danced by BFA students was simultaneously art, pedagogy and a chance to mourn. At the end of the final piece, Mt. Hope, some on stage and in the audience were crying. Visiting choreographer Gerald Casel had left the rehearsals of Mt. Hope in the hands of Ed Burgess, beloved mentor and inspired chair of UWM's dance department. Burgess died unexpectedly on May 11. The last lyric of the song by James Blake and Smog, which ends this wonderful dance, insists that no grave will contain the man because he will “phoenix.” That Burgess' values remain alive in the artistry of the young dancers was everywhere evident, but at that moment his spirit seemed palpably present.
Mt. Hope is about the ways we treat each other in the U.S. It was built from personal material contributed by the 14 excellent dancers. It's a rich work that should be part of some company's permanent repertory.
The department is also mourning the loss of faculty member Janet Lilly as she leaves to head the dance department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The program opened with her new work, The Line Starts Here, danced with marvelous confidence by an all female cast. With strong designs by Iain Court that included a fan blowing sheets of office paper across the floor, this constantly engaging reflection on the realities for women in administrative jobs also touched on change, death and the unknown. Among its haunting images: young women on their haunches, faces close to the fan, singing into the wind.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
It was gratifying to experience again this department's sincere commitment to risk-taking. In his You Gotta Give 'em Hope! guest choreographer Leonard Cruz deployed texts by the slain gay San Francisco councilman Harvey Milk. This danced protest on behalf of LGBTQ equality brought Milk's activism roaring back to life. The excitement of the in-your-face first half waned from a thin development, but returned with the siren at the frightening finale where death again competed with hope in an image of Milk's assassination.
In making B Negative, Simone Ferro asked her students to consider which aspects of their histories shaped the way they move. This produced some very full-bodied, high-spirited, organic dancing, and some blander exercises. The kaleidoscopic closed-circuit video of the dance taken from many angles and projected onto the backdrop was a show in itself, but a distraction from the live energy of the students who were fun to watch at every skill level.
