PREVIEW: Examiner.com
Illuminate your Halloween with a "Spektrel" dance
Marjorie LaPrade
Examiner.com
October 25, 2015
Halloween is nearly upon us. It's a time for dressing up in all manner of character, carving jack-o-lanterns and eating copious amounts of candy. If you are an adult, you can relive your childhood vicariously through the next generation and take them trick-or-treating. Yet, there is another way to address your inner child in the coming days.
The Luminarium Dance Company will be putting on their fifth season in Boston with the show “Spektrel.” The dance performances will be on October 27, 29, 30 and 31. General admission ticketsare available for $25 for the show at the Multicultural Arts Center. This theatrical production will have four acts directed by co-founding choreographers Merli V. Guerra and Kimberleigh A. Holman. They specialize in unconventional lighting design which generates intentional shadows.
The first work is Guerra's concept. The visuals combine live dance and video projection to portray the amusing dreams and reflective disappointments one goes through in their early life.
Next in the lineup is Holman's “Rabbit Hole Cycles.” The name is a nod to the journey to other worlds in “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.” Have you ever seen surrealist performance art? This work cycles through shifting repetition with an infinite number of possible combinations.
Holman's second piece has a realistic and modern theme. “Getting There is Half the Battle” describes the millennial culture of endless diversion and receding discipline. It can seem daunting to overcome the obstacle of getting anywhere. Dancers demonstrate powerless situations, frustrating technology, their own weaknesses and dealing with each other.
A Phoenix is a mythical creature that is said to rise out of its own ashes. The last movement, Guerra's “Phoenixial Cycle,” compares that bird to women in modern times. We tend to take on too much work and burnout. The performers can recognize this, shake off their feathers and emerge victoriously from their transformation.
With four nights to choose from, there is little excuse to miss this dynamic presentation. We look forward to seeing their visions realized as their stories unravel through dance. This is one Halloween treat we will be sure to devour.
