I went to Starz Dance Studio on 436 in Casselberry, to see one of the final rehearsals before “Poetry in Motion” hits the stage at the Winter Park playhouse. When I walked in, Larissa Humiston, the choreographer and founder of Emotions Dance, welcomed me and made sure all the dancers knew who I was. Dancers were filling out paper work committing themselves to Nude Nite in February and Element Earth in April. Larissa surprised the dancers when she announced that they would not be doing a run through of the whole show. One dancer expressed concerns as her face flushed red. She was visibly upset . She pointed out that the show was only three days away. Larissa wanted to give the dancers a rest but she decided to put the issue up for a vote. She told the dancers to discuss and she stepped out into the hall. I was in the midst of a possible mutiny. Larissa re-entered the room before a final verdict was decided on. She joined the discussion and finally put it up for vote again. This time she told all the dancers to close their eyes and raise their hand to vote. Only two dancers wanted to run through the show.
Larissa lead the dancers in some warm up exercises and then spent the rest of the evening helping the dancers feel connected to one another like a family. She had all the dancers sit in a circle. She asked each dancer to then tell two truths about themselves and one lie. Everyone then had to guess the lie. Rather than hard work, they began to play and in the process learn about each other. Listening in as I sketched, I found out Larissa hates socks and likes tiny collectible things.
A second game involved the dancers picking one of four songs and then standing in a corner of the room designated for that song. No one went to the corner of the room where I happened to be sitting. Either the song sucked or the dancers didn’t want to stand near the creepy artist.
One of the songs assigned was Time Warp from the Rocky Horror picture show. The two dancers in that corner had 5 minutes to choreograph a dance routine to the music. The dance they came up with was lively and entertaining. There were the required hip thrusts but the rest of the routine was spontaneous and fun, performed with constant laughter. The other two songs offered equally fun and spontaneous results. The important thing was that everyone was laughing and having a great time. Worries about the big performance in three days were gone.
The last exercise that Larissa pulled out, was to have all the dancers walk as a group to the Mexican place right up the street. With my sketch finished, I packed up and went home.
Larissa manages to bring plenty of truth and sincerity to the choreography, with dancers who are committed to the performance and each other. Emotions Dance will be performing “Poetry in Motion” tonight (October 1) and tomorrow (October 2), at the Winter Park Playhouse (711 North Orange Avenue, Winter Park). Tickets are only $20. Tickets can be purchased online at www.emotionsdance.org with a credit card OR
From an Emotions Dance dancer or representative for cash or check OR
Cash or check the night of the performance (as long as tickets don’t sell out) Get your tickets NOW as they are going fast!
Emotions Dance
Larissa Humiston, the artistic director and choreographer of Emotions Dance, invited me out to see the rehearsals for “Muddle” which will be performed Saturday, February 6th at 7 Pm and on Sunday, February 7th at 7PM. “Muddle” combines live music by Damien Simon with a series of dances that illustrate the struggle between the seven sins and seven virtues. Inscribed on one of the dancers shirts read “Evoke emotion through motion.”
When I arrived the first day, there was a couple finishing up a ballroom dance lesson in the studio; a lesson on the box step. As dancers arrived, they started to warm up. Larissa welcomed me immediately with a hand shake and said she was excited to see what I do. At first, dancers worked on individual sections working out minor kinks. Later, Larissa had them run through the entire show. This is when the emotional impact of the show truly hit me. I had written down the sins and virtues as a guide, but it was fun to just watch and guess the sins and virtues based on the performances. They were: Temperance & Gluttony, Kindness & Envy, Charity & Greed, Chastity & Lust, Pride & Humility, Sloth & Diligence, Wrath & Patience.
I really loved watching Wrath & Patience. This dancing combination had the greatest contrast of emotions and Dion Leonhard Smith did an amazing job expressing Wrath. She transformed into a vicious beast, her back bending backwards at impossible angles and her hands clenched in fists of rage. The Chastity & Lust performance was also fun for a similar reason. The contrast was extreme and entertaining. For this performance, Dion would be on point as a ballerina, her hands graceful and demure, in stark contrast to her later performance. Cindy Heen did a wonderfully lustful dance that should please any boyfriends who were talked out of watching the Super Bowl.
When the run through was finished, Larissa asked the dancers to gather into the “Circle of friendship.” All the dancers sat around in a semicircle and Larissa offered notes and suggestions. To Amanda Cariotto she said “Remember you are humility, you need to be soft in the face. It is all in the line of the body as well, humble soft, eyes down.” As a general note, Larissa reminded the dancers to be mindful of what they express through their face as well as the dance. She was very worried that people might show up at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center on Virginia, which is the home for the Orlando Ballet. The Dr. Philips Center for the Performing Arts they are performing at is located across from City Hall at 455 South Orange Avenue. She was also concerned that the performance on Saturday would be packed and Sunday’s performance empty because of the Super Bowl. So any women out there reading, if you want to know just how much your man loves you, ask him to come out on Sunday to see this amazing performance. He will be pleasantly surprised.
P.S. I tried to convince my wife to see this dance performance but she insists on watching the big game.
Seven Deadly Sins – Sloth
The Cameo Theater on Colonial near Mills was the venue for an Emotions Dance Company event called Seven Deadly Sins. When I arrived, the first thing I saw in the theater’s plate glass windows was Brian Feldman who sat on a worn and tattered recliner staring at a TV which was showing nothing but static. Brian had a remote control, but for this 30 hour performance he was personifying Sloth so he never had the ambition to change the channel. There was also a fake aquarium with animated fish swimming about. I immediately sat on my portable stool and started to sketch. Several times people passed by that I knew so I paused for a moment to say hello. A drummer set up camp right next to me, leaned over and asked “Hey, I love your stool. Any chance I could borrow it?” I was working so I had to say “No”. He began putting out plastic buckets of varying sizes and before I knew it he was banging out a very loud beat. He must have banged on those cans for close to an hour and I found it hard to concentrate. I probably rushed this sketch a bit since I wanted to get inside away from the noise. If Brian noticed the drumming, he never showed any interest, he just stared listlessly at the static screen and ate Cheerios.
Tisse Mallon, who organized the event, came outside and said to me, “Brian is very proud of the Game of Life that is in the foreground. He replaced LIFE with SLOTH“. Feeling a bit slothful myself, I hadn’t even noticed, so I went back and added that detail to the sketch. Inside the theater, there were semi-nude dancers painted to represent the 7 deadly sins. I spent some time trying to figure out which sin each represented. They moved in slow motion constantly gesturing in an abstract sinuous ongoing performance. There were also staged acts throughout the night. This was a fun event and sketch outing.