Kim Robards Dance has never managed to attain the visibility of some of its larger, better- known counterparts on the local dance scene, like the Colorado Ballet or Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, but it’s not for lack of artistic accomplishment.
The high-energy, 12-member company, based in a converted warehouse space at 1387 S. Santa Fe Drive, gave a pair of well-reviewed performances in 2008 at Joyce SoHo in New York that led to its participation in a week-long dance series during the Beijing Olympics.
To begin its 25th anniversary season, the company presented a continuing program Friday evening in its compact KRD Theater with four ensemble works that offer something of a cross-section of its history and give audiences a good taste of its superior artistry.
Steering clear of gimmickry, faddishness and showiness for its own sake, Robards, the company’s artistic director and sole choreographer, creates consistently serious-minded, solidly crafted works.
And unlike lesser choreographers who can too often be derivative and predictable, she brings an original, substantive vision to her pieces, moving dancers across the stage in fresh, propulsive ways.
These qualities were especially visible in “Cascades” (1997), an exuberant, high-voltage romp that lasted less than 10 minutes but packs a lot in during that short time. This was the most ordered, balletic work of the first half, with everything crisply and coherently fitting together.
More audacious, if not quite as complete a success (it becomes a bit repetitive toward the end), was the evening’s opener, an 18-minute premiere titled “Silken Threads.”
Set to a score by double-bassist Edgar Meyer, this work for nine female dancers captured the driving edginess of the music and conveyed a complex mix of feelings, including futility and even menace.
Repeated a couple of times in the early part of the piece was an odd, startling combination that began with one dancer walking alongside another on all fours. The latter then lay on the floor and slid backward as the other walked over her, and finally the dancer on the bottom extended her legs upward and supported the other dancer, who extended herself horizontally in the air.
The program’s run ends with a performance at 8 p.m. today.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
