Yesterday was a beautiful 90 plus degree day downtown Annapolis. The sun was high and scorching, the ground sizzled like hot sand and a breeze blew every half hour. It was a beautiful day for dance.
Brigid Myers
Although Mother Nature didn’t change her plans to give us a nice 75 degree day, at least she didn’t rain on us! Dragonfly Dance Experiment had a wonderful performance at the City Docks in Annapolis.
We performed an hour show to a very warm audience (pun intended). The show started with a duet, “Before Bed” choreographed by Dragonfly’s director, Megan Morse Jans and guest choreographer, Stephanie Yezek. Jans and Yezek recently performed the piece at the Oxford Fringe Festival and the British influence was a light hearted and fun start the show. Next to perform a self-choreographed solo was Dragonfly, Sarah Keller. The feeling of falling in love was represented by her sweet choreography that melted the hearts of our audience. Following was the Dragonfly premier of “Build, Run, Speak” a piece choreographed by guest artist, Becky Radway, artistic director of Becky Radway Dance Projects based in New York, New York. The three section piece performed by six of the Dragonflies is based around the creation of a working machine. Remember, “If you build it, he will come.”? Well, we built it and the audience flocked to see.
The second half of the show included some Dragonfly favorites and a new duet. “In Her Hands” choreographed by guest artist Stephanie Yezek was performed by four Dragonflies. This intense performance of powerful movement was a great addition to the works presented at the Docks. Dancers jumping for their lives as it would seem, didn’t give up even in the heat. To cool things off (and not in a temperature sense) a duet featuring Jillian Barber, Dragonfly Rehearsal Director and Megan Morse Jans was a light hearted petite allegro. The dancers seemed to be playing a bit of cat and mouse as they tried to one up each other in a friendly and delicately choreographed competition. It was a fun piece that brought smiles to the glowing (hopefully sunblocked) faces of our audience. Closing the show was “Like a Peach” a sweet and thoughtful piece in Dragonfly’s repertoire. The piece represents the challenges of adapting to mother-hood and closed the show by putting the baby to bed.
Dock Side Dance was yet again a fantastic evening of dance offered to a wonderful community of supporters. Anyone who would sit on the 100 degree brick for an hour is a lover of dance and we are so very thankful for that! Next year bring your beach umbrellas because we will be there shine or shine!
A group shot of the Dragonflies looking beautiful is what I have decided to post in the place of an action shot of myself with a red face. :)
