Limes, Oranges, and a Free Dance Preview

The Lime Project, performed at Rachel Browne Auditorium, Friday, June 17, 2011

Reviewed by John Herbert Cunningham

Just in case the audience was slow to pick up on it, the cookies and cupcakes served at the end with wine clued them in. The shortbread topped with a lime green icing and white lettering announcing ‘The Lime Project’ couldn’t be missed. And they tasted so good going down.

Nina Patel in action

Nina Patel also looked pretty tasty dressed in white as did the other three dancers—Natasha Torres-Garner, Claire Marshall and Gabriela Rehak. All are graduates of the professional division of the Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers. All bring a wealth of both dance and life experience.

Perhaps the dancer that will be the most well known to Winnipeg audiences will be Natasha Torres-Garner. Natasha was born into the artistic life. Her father, Hugo, is a Latin-American guitar player and composer who has entertained Winnipeg and world audiences for nearly forty years. One of her brothers currently plays guitar in a leading Seattle band. Natasha has been dancing professionally for nine years. One of her best-known choreographies was performed when she was Winnipeg Arts Ambassador (Dance) when she danced along the Graham Avenue walkway beginning at Winnipeg Square and ending at the Millennium Library.

Claire Marshall is the modern and creative movement teacher with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She has danced with both Young Lungs Dance and Gearshifting Performance Works, Jolene Bailie’s dance company.

Gabriela Rehak

Gabriela Rehak has been performing dance for fifteen years. She was brought out of retirement for this performance. She started her dance training with a Ukrainian folk dance ensemble before turning to modern dance. She is the First Steps Coordinator with the RWB as well as being artistic director of the Rozmai Ukrainian Dance Company.

What of Patel herself? You may not recognize her name as, after graduating from the professional program and after having danced in Winnipeg for a few years, she disappeared. She had gone to London, England in order to pursue a master’s degree in dance therapy from the University of London’s Goldsmith College. While there, she became involved in the London dance community appearing at such places as Covent Garden and at Sadler’s Wells where she performed in the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Dance Umbrella. She returned to Winnipeg three years ago with a degree, a husband and twin girls who are now four years of age. She has added two more children, a boy and another girl, since her return. She revived her dancing career with an appearance in Stephanie Ballard’s Home Again last September.

This was the first chance Winnipeggers had to see her choreography. The Lime Project began as a result of a discussion between Nina and Natasha in Nina’s living room a while back. Operating from a Buddhist philosophical position, Nina’s concept was to create a meditation on human capacity and, as she announced Friday prior to the start of the performance, the struggle to find inner acceptance and balance. It’s difficult enough creating a choreography but added to that difficulty was Nina’s decision to also dance in it. As she put it, she wasn’t ready as yet to hang up her dancing shoes. Also, as all of the dancers were well acquainted with each other through their long involvement with the WCD professional program and as friends, she says she trusted them to make the right decisions that would enable her freedom to perform both roles.

Before discussing the performance itself, I should note that this was a free performance that was preparatory to a full-blown performance anticipated in January, and was an opportunity for Nina to get feedback for that show. In attendance was a who’s who of the Winnipeg dance community.

Imagine the setting: four dancers dress in white set against a white floor and four clear plexiglas chairs. The performance opened with all four dancers dancing to music predominated by the sound of a bassoon. This was followed by four solo performances, each physically and emotionally different, before resolving back to the group. Movement was very balletic, the only floor work being done by Natasha. Claire’s was interesting with its long arm movements as well as the adoption of certain stances reminiscent of the Indian classical dance form called bharatnatyam. Some of the stances Nina adopted during her solo were reminiscent of the Yogic warrior asana which, if that was their inspiration, couldn’t have been more appropriate as she met, and subdued, life’s roadblocks.

There was one segment of the performance which had me wondering whether a logical error had occurred. At the start of Natasha’s solo, the dancers brought the four chairs closer together. Natasha entered the space created by the chairs and lay on the floor with arms spread wide and knees bent. Rising from the floor, she then attempted to exit through the barrier created by the chairs jumping back each time as if she had received an electric shock. It was as if the chairs were connected by an electric fence. She could only escape the confines by walking backwards. However when, during Nina’s solo, Nina chose to enter this space, she was able to exit with ease.

Fortunately, the performance was followed by a Q & A. Nina explained that one of the aspects of the performance involved the decisions people make. In Natasha’s performance, Natasha believed that there was a barrier created and so had difficulty freeing herself. It was as if her decision had created a fear within her that became her reality. However, Nina chose not to believe this and so entered and exited with ease.

Nina indicated during the Q & A that the choreography would be extended in January to include ten women. This prompted a response first by a female audience member, that was later echoed by audience members in a minor revolt, as to why only women were included. It was later agreed that Ian Mozden, who was one of the most vociferous in the audience, would create an Orange Project (I was opting for lemon) in which ten males would perform. Of course, the clear plexiglas chairs would have to be replaced by beer kegs, recliners and TV sets tuned to a football game and the white outfits replaced with blue jeans and t-shirts, a little bit of belly and butt cracks showing for good measure.

In any event, the audience was enthusiastic about the performance and looked forward to the full one in January. That one will require you to reach into your pocket books so, if you missed this free one, too bad, so sad.