The Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company has continued to keep the works of the late Alwin Nikolais alive over the past six years, from presenting an evening-length program of repertoire to taking the performance for numerous presentations overseas.
And RWDC continues to pay tribute to the man who was an instrumental influence on co-artistic directors Shirley Ririe and Joan Woodbury.
They were lucky to call Nikolais a friend, said Woodbury. "He was the one who told us to name our company after ourselves back in 1965. He told us it would be more professional."
With that kind of relationship, it would be natural for RWDC to acquire yet another Nikolais work. This time, it's a presentation titled "Tent."
"We started working on getting this piece about a year ago," said Woodbury. "We knew we wanted to get 'Tent' because it's a wonderful work."
RWDC began talks with Murray Louis, who is co-artistic director (with Alberto del Saz) of the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance Inc. "We have known Murray for about as long as we knew Nik," said Woodbury. "And we have worked with Murray and Alberto intensively in these past few years when we were putting together the Nikolais tribute concerts."
RWDC wrote up two grants — one for a summer workshop and one for the acquisition of "Tent." "We turned them into the Nikolais foundation," said Woodbury. "And they turned them into the National Endowment of the Arts." Both were approved, and the summer workshop, held in the last part of July and the first two weeks of August, allowed the company time to set "Tent."
Del Saz, who danced the work in 1992, said "Tent" features a large sheet of material that measures 36 by 28 feet and is latched and unlatched on cables. The number is a "masterpiece," he said. "The patterns of the dancers and the material and the multimedia images and music and lighting all come together in a 3-D work. The material that forms the tent also forms veils and gowns for the dancers.
"Each set-up creates another environment and another area for the dancers to move into. There are a few moments when the dancers can improvise, but they must improvise in a certain amount of time and in a certain way. I give them ideas and guidelines on how to move during those times, and it's up to them to decide when and how to put the movements together. Since there are those moments of improvisation, each performance is different and fresh for the audience and for the dancers."
If you go
What: "Tent," Ririe-Woodbury Dance Co.
Where: Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South
When: Wednesday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; 2 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $30
Phone: 355-2787 or 888-451-2787
Web: www.arttix.org
E-mail: scott@desnews.com