Boulder-based 3rd Law Dance/Theater has developed a strong local reputation for its inventive evening-length, multimedia works that fearlessly tackle pointed sociopolitical themes.
The small yet ever-ambitious company is at it again with its latest 70-minute work, “Bread and Salt,” which debuted Friday at the Lakewood Cultural Center and continues for three more performances, beginning Friday at Boulder’s Dairy Center for the Arts.
Inspired by the ethnic and religious friction and outright conflict that have flared around the world in the aftermath of the Cold War, this work uses the ceremony of marriage to explore how evolving beliefs and rituals both divide us and define our common humanity.
Actor Scott Tuffield, who is not a dancer but does have a good sense of movement, serves as the production’s lively and engaging narrator or master of ceremonies, laying out the production’s basic themes and setting up each of the dance selections.
Still, “Bread and Salt” does not achieve the cohesion, intellectual depth or creative audacity of the company’s revival last season of “The CleanRoom” (2008), which provocatively explored the incursion of technology into contemporary life. The scenario by co-artistic director Jim LaVita meanders, and the exact of point of this latest production (a significantly revised and enlarged version of an earlier piece) never comes into focus.
In addition, the second half seems forced, as though he and co-artistic director Katie Elliott felt compelled to stretch it out to achieve some preordained run time. Especially superfluous is the final ensemble number, which feels repetitive and adds little.
Also disappointing are LaVita’s multimedia elements, usually a high point of 3rd Law’s works. Centerstage when the production begins is a trunk that when opened becomes a Pandora’s Box.
Its contents, societal philosophies and beliefs embodied in photographs and other objects, cascade upward on the rear projection screen — a nifty effect. Unfortunately, the later multimedia elements, including historic photos of weddings, never achieve the same technical sophistication or conceptual imaginativeness.
Redeeming “Bread and Salt” is the dance. As in some of the company’s previous works, it is easy to wish that the movement was more integrally integrated into the work’s thematic structure, but there is much to like about Elliott’s choreography.
The best idea in this work is its use of diverse chairs as metaphors for the cultural baggage — customs, beliefs, prejudices, traditions and memories — that we all carry, for better or worse.
Midway in the second half, the dancers arrive on stage with their chairs, each transporting them in different ways. One dancer pushes a chair. Another has a chair across on her back. And still another cradles a chair sideways.
The almost haunting mood of this section, as the dancers seem to cling to their chairs for security and shelter, turns light-hearted as Elliott offers up humorous, cleverly realized variations on musical chairs, with the dancers bumping each other out the way as they scurry for seats.
Considering that 3rd Law is not a full-time company, it has surprisingly strong dancers, such as Gwen Phillips and Mason Lawrence Taylor, who light up the second of two contrasting back-to-back duets in the first half.
The dancers never touch until the end, yet there is an obvious connection that is conveyed in parallel, echoed movements. One notably evocative, witty moment comes when Taylor leans sideways toward her and Phillips reacts with a kind of double take, almost seeming to topple over.
Another high point is Eliza Kuel- thau’s striking solo (though it goes a tad too long), including a moment in which she elegantly straddles two chairs, suggesting a bridge between competing cultures.
“Bread and Salt” might not be a home run, but it is an intelligent, high-energy work that reaffirms 3rd Law’s willingness to think big and take risks.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
“Bread and Salt”
Dance. Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. 3rd Law Dance/Theater presents a narrative, multimedia work inspired by the ethnic and religious conflicts that divide our world. It explores cultural differences via the ceremony of marriage. 7:30 Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. 90 minutes, with one intermission. $20, $15 students and seniors and $12 children. 303-444-7328 or
