Snappy Dance Theater brings in its own funk

There is a thriving dance community in Boston that exists beyond big name companies like the Boston Ballet and visiting Broadway hit productions lie Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. Snappy Dance Theater, a small yet growing contemporary dance company, is proof positive of the great strides being made to further diversify the realm of performance dance in the area.

Formed in 1996 by Artistic Director Martha Mason, this season marks a period of development and expansion for the company. The current program is being presented at the Copley Theatre, a major downtown performance venue with over 5,000 seats. This alone "represents a major step towards the company's goal to reach a broader audience and become Boston's first fully-salaried contemporary dance company."

While the company has yet to work out some artistic and technical kinks, last Saturday's performance demonstrated that Snappy Dance Theater is in fact on its way to becoming a prominent company within the Boston dance community.

The tone for the performance was set before the dancers even took to the stage. The production was preceded by an announcement from Executive Director Jurgen Weiss. As he discussed the advances made by the company in recent months and thanked the audience for its support, several dancers appeared and proceeded to hold Weiss upside down and roll him across the stage over their backs. His perplexed appearance coupled with the playful demeanor of the dancers established the light-humored tone that was to persist through most of the production.

The program at Snappy Dance Theater is comprised of ten short pieces. The opening dance, Spring Collection, features three company dancers: Bonnie Duncan, Sean Kilbridge and Bess Whitesel. Set to the music of Morphine, the trio immediately demonstrates the company's dedication to experimenting with movement. The piece incorporates fundamental dance themes with gravity-defying acrobatics and choreography that challenges the audience to broaden its visual horizons and think beyond the boundaries of traditional dance. The trio dances together in such a way that at times they appear to form one body, using their own resistance to assume intricate shapes and structures.

Tango Tangle, performed by Whitesel and Jim Banta is an especially comical interpretation of this romantic Argentinean dance form. Set to the music of Carlos Gardel made famous by the memorable tango scene in Scent of a Woman, the dance explores the relationship between the two dance partners, exaggerating their emotional extremes. Banta occasionally sniffs Whitesel's armpit, confirming the playful nature of the dance. The two try to show each other up on stage, resulting in a comic display of competition.

Sangere, a world premiere, is a piece dedicated to and inspired by the Pan Mass Challenge. The title of the dance refers to a ritual of the Suya Indians of Mato Grosso, Brazil in which a "curing song" is sung in hopes of restoring the health of an ailing child.

Even more than Spring Collection, this selection illustrates the company's collaborative, experimental nature; it uses shadow imagery, circus skills and puppetry to convey its theme. Set to the music of Philip Glass along with individual voice recordings, Sangere is simultaneously eerie and light-hearted. While mimicry of circus themes along with the ghostly voices and somber lighting is somewhat confusing, the dance is a visual masterpiece.

The program is interspersed with a series of brief interludes in which the company experiments with lighting. The stage is completely dark as the dancers move about the stage with different colored flashlights. All that is visible to the audience are the individual lights, which take on human emotional characteristics ranging from love to fear. The second of these intervals is somewhat drawn out and fails to hold the audience's attention. Snappy Dance has stumbled upon an innovative concept but fails to develop it to a point where the audience is truly engaged.

As demonstrated by the three interludes, the use of props is central to the company's exploration of different movement themes. Their inclusion is more effective in some dances than in others.

In Movement in D'Flat, the dancing is structured around two groups of walls resembling office cubicles. The dancers use the props in this piece to create an alluring sequence of disappearances on stage as they appear to actually dance along with the cubicles. Other pieces such as Ma Chairie and overneath make less effectual use of props.

A solo performed by Tufts student Tim Gallagher, Ma Chairie uses a doll-sized chair as a prop; the theme of the dance is muddled rather than highlighted by its incorporation. The use of enormous tubes in overneath is reminiscent of Stomp! techniques but is not fully explored. By wearing the tubes over their heads, arms or legs, the dancers are challenged to use their bodies in new ways that defy traditional movement.

Unfortunately, the use of the tubes seems to separate the dancers rather than create a certain connection between them. Because they are absorbed in their individual use of the tubes, the interaction between the dancers is hindered by the props. While the idea is interesting, the choreography does not take full advantage of the wide range of possibilities created by its incorporation, making the piece less engaging for the audience. Furthermore, the company appears to be less than comfortable with the choreography and distracted by the tubes, detracting even more from a piece with tremendous potential.

Deviations from the initial comedic, carefree tone also weaken the Snappy Dance program. Pieces that are more introspective and serious are casually thrown in with the program's other more playful dances. The audience is unprepared for more somber pieces such as overneath and Fardel. While there is no doubt a certain amount of artistic merit to these dances, it is lost on the audience because they are so unexpected.

While there are technical and artistic flaws that need to be examined by company, they are few and relatively immaterial given the overall strength of the program. Snappy Dance Theater has stumbled upon a genre of dance that has been relatively unexplored by local dance companies. It offers a brand of contemporary movement unique within a community that often seems to focus on more traditional forms of dance. For a fledgling company, Snappy Dance Theater is surprisingly strong. As it continues to carve a niche for its unusual and particular blend of movement styles, it is sure to become one of the area's premiere dance companies.