IT IS a truism that school concerts are not meant for the general public. True, they are not restricted to relatives and friends of the little darlings performing on-stage - some for the first time, but others go at their peril.Glory 2003, mounted at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts over the weekend, was not purely a school concert, but it largely was. The groups included the 15-year-old, six-strong Company Dance Theatre and four 'supporting' dancers.
Other groups were The Repertory Ensemble, The Junior Department Ensemble and students of The Junior Department. Coming from another company as a special guest was Monika Lawrence.
Not surprisingly, the Company Dance Theatre members were controlled, graceful and compelling. Not surprisingly, the younger dancers - ranging in age from four to the late teens - were, on the whole, just cute.
The concert was comprised of 10 dances, all choreographed by company founder and artistic director Tony Wilson. One of the movements of My Redeemer, which closed the first half of the show, was choreographed by Nicholas Villeneuve.
During the intermission, I heard an interesting anecdote. One of the dancers, a 15-year-old, is so passionate about dancing that she reportedly told her grandmother "If I don't dance, I'll die." Her family plans - with Wilson's blessing, for the girl is talented - to send her to New York to continue her dance studies.
There were many other talented dancers on-stage for the concert and I suspect many of them love the art enough to want to make a career of it. Like the teen of my anecdote, they will have to go abroad, too.
They will not be fully developed staying with any of the groups in the concert. Wilson has established a sort of all-age dance school; it will teach the basics, but little else. I'm not saying this is a pity; somebody has to teach little ones the fundamentals of dance. However, Wilson has, in the past, given us fine full-length ballets like Red City and Rosehall and to have a relatives-and-friends targeted 15th anniversary season for the flagship Company Dance Theatre is disappointing.
The most interesting work of the evening was Make Us One, three solos by members of the Company Dance Theatre, Samantha Chin Yee, Jameela Kassim and Trixi MacMillan. These are Wilson's star dancers and their talent and experienced showed in lyrical, controlled, emotional performances. They deserved the enthusiastic applause they received.
There was sustained applause for other dances and also at the end of the show. However, it was, I am sure, not for demonstrated excellence but for potential perceived or for family reasons. One of the potentially fine dancers in a predominantly female group was a boy of about eight. He has been dancing with Wilson for years and is coming along nicely. He, too, should go abroad when he is 15 to study dance.
Apart from the African-looking costumes of the last dance, Wilson's costumes were, like the concert generally, uninspired. So was the lighting by designer Rohan Garrick, who can do better than put a soft pink glow over virtually everything.
- Michael Reckord
