On Thursday night, I went to see the Sanspointe Dance Company for the third time.  This performance was “Primary Subject” and featured six new pieces.  My favorites were “Measuring the Marigolds” (choreographed by Taryn Lavery and performed by Shellie Chambers, Noel Pollard, and Anna Walker) and “I made something for you” (created and performed by Rhea Speights and Justin Wallace).

I have a theory that all art can be analyzed as an amalgam of three things: an idea, execution of that idea, and charisma/personality.  But these things don’t interact with any easy mathematical precision.  If there’s a genius idea, you might not really need much execution or charm.  Similarly, a mediocre idea might can be turned into something worth seeing just through brilliant execution and high-wattage charisma.  If a girl’s got enough charisma, I might could watch her just stand there for half-an-hour.  But when you’ve got all three, you’ve got yourself a winner.

There are several things that Sanspointe does very well.  When they’re at their best, the Sanspointe dancers look like they’re having a good time and effectively convey this to the audience.  Even professional dancers often don’t do this well and can end up looking bored or disengaged.  For whatever reason, the Sanspointe dancers almost always make it look like fun.

I’ve said a lot that I love to see and hear dancers panting, sweating, and out-of-breath.  The cozy quarters of the Children’s Dance Foundation are ideal for that.  Being this close to your performers lets you see how thoroughly they’re enjoying themselves and the simple and intrinsic joy of movement.

Likewise, the choreography for Sanspointe can be gleefully fun.  I’ve laughed out loud at all three of the shows.  Which I assume is unusual for dance.  Maybe I’ve just got bad manners.  Or maybe I’m the only one who thinks it’s all so funny.  But I can’t help but think that the Sanspointe choreographers had humor in mind when they created certain moves or certain dances.

I’m sure there are as many different choreography styles as there are people.  Accordingly, the Sanspointe playfulness comes in many different flavors.  It might be spending several minutes between pieces preparing an aerial swing for “Deluge” – establishing the dramatic arc and tension for the audience – and then, after the music starts, refusing for the first few minutes to let the performer touch it in any meaningful way.  Or the good-natured act of putting a swing onstage in the first place.  It might be cursing the dancers with an “evil” hand in “Mind Over Me” – like Evil Dead 2 – to pass around and react to.  It might be making me focus on the dancers’ blue socks/shoes in “Measuring the Marigolds”.  And, of course, the obvious and laugh-out-loud humor of vibraphonist-dancer interaction in “I made something for you”.  Rhea Speights – a possible nominee for coolest person in town.

Also, some of the ideas were clear and good.  There was a place in “There was Morning and Evening, Another Day” where there was one dancer onstage with three chairs and I could follow the artistic idea of “How many ways can one dancer move with three chairs?”  Or in “Deluge”: “How can a dancer play with a swing – without swinging?”  Or in “I made something for you” when I grasped the idea, “What if the dancer interrupts and brats up the musician?”  These are themes – and an audience needs one to be able to follow along.  When it’s not going well, it’s usually because I don’t understand what’s happening, why it’s happening, and why I don’t get it.

As long as Sanspointe follows the general format of idea (give your audience a theme), execution (provide a few flashy, “hook-y”, or interesting moves), and personality (look like you’re having fun in a way that remembers and engages the audience), I’m always open to seeing modern dance.  It only starts to lose me when there’s a bunch of dance-y dance happening without an obvious or coherent idea involved.  Or if there’s movement that starts to look similar, but without repeating anything in a way that provides a coherent theme.  Or if the dancers look bored or flat.  As an aside, I may be uncivilized, but I have an easier time appreciating dance that’s backed by a strong, organized beat (mum (or Star Dot Star?)) over something more noisy and dissonant (Kronos Quartet).  When they’ve got the good mojo going, there’s nothing stopping me from recommending Sanspointe shows to just about anybody.

Thank you very much to Shellie Chambers and the women of Sanspointe for inviting me and for striving to create new and cool art.