All images courtesy of Bryan Johnson

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

I had completely planned out what I was going to write about tonight’s Six by Six performance of the Sanspointe Dance Company, but then I got home and flipped through the Sanspointe webpage.  Somewhere along the way, photographer Bryan Johnson (Southern Wedding Film Photography) snapped pictures of some of the past and present Sanspointe dancers.  They offer links to the full gallery.  Accordingly, all of the pictures featured in this piece are credited to the talented Mr. Johnson.

I liked his shots so much, I’m including a whole mess of them here.  I think they deserve some wider appreciation.  My spot recommendation is that you hire Bryan Johnson if you need photographs.  It’s been so long since I’ve had any picture at all made of me, I might barter anything – up to my future children – for one decent shot.  Any takers?

Including all these pictures, frankly, means I may not have much room for anything else.  Actually, I’m lying.  Because of the limitations of the blog format, it means I have to write more, so I can squeeze in more of these wonderful photographs.  So, on with the show.

Speaking as someone completely outside of the dance community, it’s my hypothesis that “modern dance” has a bit of a bad reputation out in the world.  If Jay Leno (or Conan O’Brien nowadays) mentions “modern dance”, it’ll probably be in the context of lampooning how highbrow, stuffy, pretentious, or opaque the fine arts sometimes can be.

But I disagree with that stereotype.  Look at these pictures and try to play Where’s Waldo with the stuffy.  I don’t see it.  For me, modern dance is more about the joy of movement for its own sake.  These dancers’ smiles should be all the advertisement Sanspointe will ever need.

Joy can be infectious.  I found myself laughing during several of the pieces of the Six by Six show.  I’d think that an obstacle for a dance company would be letting the audience know that it’s okay to laugh.  I walked in with a mindset that I would be surrounded by serious dancers and serious dance.  And – while dance is an art form that can require rigorous study and practice – much of a dance show can still be buoyant, silly, and entertaining.

I have a hunch that if you recruited an adult with no dance experience to watch a Sanspointe show, there’s a possibility they might be intimidated into silence, worrying that they had to take every little nuance seriously.  Or fretting that they wouldn’t understand.  As if they couldn’t appreciate the movement at all if they couldn’t appreciate the finer points of any particular stretch or step.  It’s sometimes really difficult, sitting in the audience and without obvious cues from the performers, to know whether we’re watching a moment of comedy or drama.  If I laugh, will it be inappropriate?  If I don’t laugh, will they wonder why I don’t get it?

But I think the counterpoint is that if you brought kids, they’d giggle and smile their way through the whole performance.  Knowing nothing about the technical side of dance, they’d be free to appreciate it from a simpler, more joyful place.  They could laugh right along with the choreographer’s cleverness or sense of humor and enjoy someone spinning for exactly what it is – a good time.

Almost by definition, is a piece celebrating 200 years of Edgar Allen Poe serious?  What if the dancers have cowbells?  Does that make it funny?  What if the dancers scream bloody murder in the middle of the piece?  Is it not funny anymore?  What if they sit on top of each other, like babies in cribs?  Does that make it funny again?  My opinion is that the piece was both, but sometimes I admit that it’s not entirely obvious without some sort of cue.

A final note is that I wanted to thank whoever it was that realized that everything is better with live music.  Sanspointe invited percussionists Daniel Long and Justin Wallace to entertain the audience with pre-show music.  They also participated during the second piece.  I wish that more local productions would invite musicians to come play before the show, during intermission, and maybe even after the show.  It seems like an obvious partnership – the musician gets some extra exposure and the organization gets to enrich the audience’s experience.

The choreographers for the Six by Six show were: Sarah M. Barry, Kim Guion, Rhea Speights, John McLaughlin, Michelle Hamff, and Shellie Chambers.  The dancers were: Shellie Chambers, Michelle Hamff, Ashley Johnson, Taryn Lavery, Lauren Tilden, Anna Walker, Kim Guion, Rhea Speights, Maria Juan, and Meredith Mitchell.  Thanks a million to Shellie and the rest of Sanspointe for putting on a fun show and letting me watch.