Just Dance

Hi all,

As a part of Fertile Ground, I wasn’t able to see as many of the other productions as I would have liked and I was also trying to save money.  But I did manage to see a reading of the play O’Flannery’s Pub by fellow Go-Girl Rebecca Frost Mayer.  The reading was at Theatre! Theatre! and it was excellent.  The story revolves around a family pub in Massachusetts.  Certain parts reminded me of Arthur Miller’s work.  I hope the play gets a full production soon.

I also got to see the show Change by Polaris Dance on Friday.  They are a contemporary dance company that also offer classes that are accessible to anyone of any physical level.  Having done mostly ballet for 14 years I am partial to ballet productions.  It was my first love and I regret never being able to get farther than I did.  Polaris is a neat company and they include aerial dance in their performances.  Contemporary (I call it Modern) dance isn’t my favorite style as it tends to involve some odd movement and strange music.  I like pointe shoes and tutus.

They had the band No Go Know as their musical guest.  I liked the fourth piece best, an almost jazz number.  A lot of the movement in the performance involved contact and lifts.  The third piece, performed with No Go Know, was pretty odd.  Everyone wore tank tops, black pants, and black socks.  They climbed a chain-link fence onstage and spun from the ceiling.  There was also a lot of stage violence that struck me as odd in a dance piece.

But anyhow, it’s always great to get out and see Portland’s performing arts scene.  Did you guys get to check out Fertile Ground?  Next year’s festival is sure to be even bigger and have plenty of excellent world premieres to offer.