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The Trey McIntyre Project's performance on Friday was almost too big and too small for KU's Lied Center. The small company, which is only in its second year as a full-time established group, had a tough time grabbing and keeping the attention of the audience throughout the show. What was too big or too intangible to conceive were some of the concepts of Trey McIntyre's works. While presenting good ideas, such as The Sun Road bringing awareness to the Glacier National Park, McIntyre, a native Kansan, did not fully succeed in revealing his underlying choices of music, movement and lighting effects. It's as if there was a semi-permeable wall between the dancers and audience - we caught glimpses of what was happening on stage but never got the whole picture.

The first piece, Like a Samba, was the oldest piece on the bill, created for Oregon Ballet Theatre in 1997. The other three pieces were TMP originals from this year. Like a Samba highlighted the dancers' beautiful lines and silhouettes created by a blank backdrop and portrait spotlights. Individually, the dancers were interesting to watch, each bringing unique stylization to the choreography. Together though they struggled to remain in unison and present the same clean, movement quality. Overall, the choreography was too mediocre and reserved for the upbeat, flirtatious music of Astrud Gilberto, especially the section to the song she is most recognized for, The Girl from Ipanema.

The next two pieces produced more exciting dancing and several laughs from the audiences. In (serious), the trio of dancers mocked their formal attire and the enharmonic scales of Henry Cowell's composition. Jason Hartley's performance was very honest and controlled and all three artists demonstrated perfect musicality, refined movements and fitting expressions.     

Shape, the shortest piece, was the most outwardly amusing one of the program. The dancers explored what it would be like to have bright, red balloons for body parts - hands, head and impossibly out-of-proportion breasts. The balloons, which emerged as distinctive obstacles, distorted the shape of the dancers and also affected their weight and movement quality. In most instances, the balloons either led them around and instigated movement or pulled them back, preventing them to quite finish a step. The one hindrance of the piece was that the balloons, while proving a point, distracted from the actual dancing.

The purpose of the last piece, The Sun Road, was to bring attention to the raw beauty of nature through the Face of America series funded by Wolf Trap. McIntyre said he wanted the work to capture "our struggle in our relationship with the natural world, to exist, and to what extent we affect what is around us." This basis is incredibly uplifting and offers itself to a powerful performance, but again the intentions were hard to capitalize on. It was clear the dancers were portraying this struggle with nature but the emotion of the piece was too intrapersonal and simulated, making it hard to grasp the urgency and depth of the issue. Again, the dancers executed each step to its fullest but the live dancing and recounted video clips fought with each other for attention. The piece would have been more meaningful if, following the narrated clip, the audience could have focused on the dancers' story simply through their movement.

The use of the spotlight in each piece was well thought out and helpful in setting a tone for each piece. It was a beneficial tool in making the stage seem smaller or bigger depending on the number of dancers and the intimacy of the piece. McIntyre frequently creates works meant to be ambiguous and open-ended so audience members can finish the story he began and create personal experiences. This worked for the middle two pieces of the program but the surrounding two pieces yielded perplexity of how to draw conclusions. The dancing was technically correct and pleasing but by the end of the show the exquisite lines and picturesque moments were overcome by distraction and confusion.


REVIEW:
Lied Center
Trey McIntyre Project
Friday, October 23, 2009
Lied Center of Kansas
1600 Stewart Avenue, Lawrence, KS
For tickets call 785-864-2787 or online at www.lied.ku.edu

Top photo by Jonas Lundqvist

By Laura Vernaci

Dance Contributor

Laura Vernaci is a Kansas City native who has always been passionate about the arts, particularly dance. She began dance lessons at the young age of five and hasn't stopped since. She trained at the Kansas City Ballet where she became a serious dancer and learned about a professional company. 

She attended Butler University in Indianapolis, IN where she majored in dance. She transferred to Truman State University in Kirksville, MO in 2006 and received a degree in Journalism in May 2008.  Laura spent the 2008-2009 in Duluth, MN dancing professionally for the Minnesota Ballet. She performed in productions such as, "The Nutcracker," "Cinderella" and "Coppelia" as well as world premier ballets created on the company.

She recently moved back to Kansas City and is excited to combine her experience in writing with her passion for dance. In addition to performing and writing, Laura also enjoys teaching dance and choreographing.