Larry Keigwin’s dance works explode in a sometimes surprising but always exhilarating multiplicity of directions.
The four pieces on Saturday evening’s Keigwin + Company program at the University of Denver’s Newman Center for the Performing Arts could hardly have been more different in look, style and tone.
And that’s obviously the point. This young choreographer does not want to be locked into any one tradition or approach, and he has the originality, imagination and breadth of vision to pull off such variety.
Totally committed to that creative vision is Keigwin’s 6-year-old company, a first-rate group of six dancers who bring polish, passion and pizzazz to every challenge he gives them.
The choreographer is clearly an up-and-comer — precisely the kind of fresh, still-emerging choreographic talent from outside that is all too rarely seen on Denver-area series, where safe stalwarts prevail.
DU’s Newman Center Presents deserves praise for taking what was no doubt a box-office risk to present him and his ensemble.
The evening’s obvious crowd- pleaser was “Love Songs” (2006), a worthy counterpart to Twyla Tharp’s popular “Nine Sinatra Songs.” Don’t be surprised to see this piece picked up by other companies, as Tharp’s classic has been.
It consists of six romantic duets set to familiar songs performed by Roy Orbison, Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone. Each section has a distinctive feel, starting with the gentle wit and flirty innocence of Ying-Ying Shiau and Alexander Gish.
No doubt intended as the program’s centerpiece was “Triptych,” which premiered this year. But this sleek, insistently abstract work was off-putting with its cool precision and sometimes robotlike movements.
More memorable, even if it is problematic in certain ways, was “Natural Selection” (2004), an intense, enigmatic glimpse at the wilds of nature.
Capping the evening was the premiere of “Bolero Colorado,” a localized version of a piece Keigwin did this year in New York City. He and dancer Nicole Wolcott spent two weeks in Denver, working with more than 50 community volunteers ages 3 to 62 to create a Colorado-specific ode to sustainability.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
