Smorgasbord is defined by Merriam-Webster as “an extensive array or variety.”
It was this word Lisa Hall McKee, director of GO! Contemporary Dance Works, picked to describe the company’s performance Saturday afternoon.
After the show opened with an artistic depiction of ancient Chinese foot binding and ended with an energized personification of the elements, it was clear that smorgasbord is the only word capable of capturing all that GO! brings to the stage.
The performance was a compilation of 12 individual pieces that had only one binding element between them — unconventional artistry. Bold, uncompromising artistic expression is what sets GO! apart from other studios, Megan DuCote, a dancer in her sixth year with GO!, said.
“It’s not a normal dance show you would see. You don’t see classical. It’s not anything you would see in Knoxville,” Ducote said. “You wouldn’t expect that here. It’s something you would see in New York or California. It’s just unique and its own personality.”
Saturday’s performance was part of the Penny4Arts program in Knoxville which enables parents to bring up to three children to a performance for only a one-cent admission charge. The goal of the program is to expose young students to a level of professional artistry that they may not otherwise be able to access.
“People that don’t think that they want to see dance come here and see Madison Tate spinning on a chain with the ballerinas in the background going crazy, and it’s fascinating to them,” McKee said. “It makes them see dance in a different light, because dance has evolved, and we have to keep up with where it’s going.”
A few of the pieces brought contemporary dance into a historical setting. “Tekora,” the story of a slave ship, and “Golden Lilies,” the representation of Chinese foot binding, both brought history to life in radically different ways.
“I love to integrate history into dance,” McKee said. “I think it’s important for us to keep bringing that up into today’s society. It makes it visual. It makes it real.”
“Golden Lilies” started the show on a slightly softer note with a poignant ballet that pulled audience members through the life of a young girl in Imperial China. The piece showed the audience that dance is a form of acting in its own right when the central ballerina expressed the pain and helplessness felt during the foot-binding ritual.
Compelling drum beats drove barefoot, loose-haired dancers in rhythmic movements across the stage in the energetic “Tekora” piece. Choreographed in the style of modern dance, “Tekora” stood in stark contrast to the delicate, rigid movements of the Chinese ballet. This difference was a beautiful way to subtlety communicate the cultural differences of each nation.
The show also featured a diverse number of performances intended to communicate an emotion rather than a concrete event. Some brought a sense of peace through serene music and smooth, fluid synchronization from the dancers.
Others energized the audience through athletic displays that proved dance is simultaneously an art and a sport. McKee joked that her dancers do more lifting than most companies with men.
A few pieces failed to achieve that combination of beauty, athleticism and emotion, perhaps because the rest of the show simply set the bar too high. The hokey tribute to silent era films presented nothing original, and its lack of artistic communication made the piece humorous but empty.
In the end, Darby O’Connor, choreographer and modern instructor for the studio, said GO! achieved its goal of bringing dance to the community in a fresh and engaging way.
“I want people to come from this community to our shows and be touched by something they see and leave with a sense of artistry,” O’Connor said. “Whatever that may be, whether they feel that their mind has been changed by something they have learned or felt. I hope that’s what we are doing as a company.”
