White Knights MB/GH duet

Bill Evans

One of Mr. Evans’ foremost achievements has been the creation of a modern dance technique that has influenced hundreds of dancers and dance teachers throughout the world since 1976. In the past decade, this systematic approach to the training of modern dancers has been profoundly influenced by Evans’ study of Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals. This approach to teaching emphasizes total body-mind integration and allows dancers to establish:

• balanced inner connectivity and outer expressivity
• balanced stability and mobility
• full three-dimensional access to the kinesphere
• enhanced musicality and effective phrasing
• healthful regenerative ways of moving that honor the body’s needs, prevent injuries and increase kinesthetic satisfaction and longevity

There is a great article about Bill (now 67) in Dance Magazine. Here are a couple of quotes:

"Bill was always interested in how the body works and how best to present that information to students," says Gregg Lizenbery, who now is director of dance at the University of Hawaii. "We had intense discussions about technique and how to develop a kinesiologically sound approach to training the body."

"There was something so expansive and lush about the dances," says one of Evans's early dancers, Debbie Poulsen (Debbie is far left in photo, Bill is far right). "Very sensual movement, but nothing was left to chance. With Bill, everything had to come from internal organs, and later, be part of a process."

Says Evans, "My immersion in [Laban Movement Analysis] allowed me to make connections with the space harmony that naturally exists in the universe, and to begin to integrate [its] language and value system in my own technique, Now, LMA flows out and into my technique seamlessly."

Don Halquist talked at the reunion about using the Laban lexicon in organizing movement. The elementary school teacher, who is finishing his Ph.D. in education, has, amazingly, never sustained a dance injury. "It gave me a firm grounding in dancing that feels effortless and organic. Bill's dancers now are similarly trained in LMA."

Critics have referred to Evans's work as "breath dancing," perhaps referring to its almost buoyant quality, or as a "loping, rangy reverie," a "crazy-legged shuffle to syncopated strutting." Others have noted his "catlike sinuosity" and long, rippling limbs.

More than sixty ballet and modern dance companies throughout the world have performed Evans's dances; his work has been supported by numerous grants, including a Guggenheim."

Tap Dogs

It’s one of Australia’s biggest international success stories -- Dein Perry’s Tap Dogs!

For Perry himself, the journey of Tap Dogs began some 14 years ago, when he started to develop some of his ideas for tap dancing “with a rock n roll edge to it”.

“We workshopped some ideas,” he says, “and we ended up with about 15 or 20 minutes worth of material.
“We videotaped it, and that led to us being asked to do a filler piece for the ABC, which we ended up calling Tap Dogs. From that, Sydney Theatre Company approached us, and asked if we’d be interested in developing it into a piece for Sydney Festival. So we did that – it was about a 55-minute piece at that stage – and it just went crazy. It sold incredibly well, and we had a lot of international producers come in and started working on the show to build it up to about 80 minutes. Then we went to the Edinburgh Festival, where we attracted more international interest – and before we knew it, we were in demand. We toured around the world, and then after about 3 years, we finally made it to New York. And we’ve been going ever since.”

The worldwide demand for the show proved so strong, Perry has had to “clone” his company; so that now there are four companies running the show – two in the US (one for the East Coast and one for the West), one in the UK and the original company in Australia.
Perry says the show has evolved over the years, but the core elements are still the same. “There are still six guys; we still have that real larrakin, hard-working ocker feel about it,” he says.

Of course, after some ten years on the road, a level of maturity has crept into the Tap Dogs. “Yeah, we’re all ‘mature’ guys now I guess,” Perry admits. “We worked out that there’s collectively something like 57 years of Tap Dogs experience on stage with this group.”
The flip side of that experience, of course, is keeping the performance fresh. That’s something that, according to Perry, comes rather organically. “If the audience is with us – and they usually are – the guys will just want to go out there and perform it,” he says.
Perhaps it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, in that it’s a loud and brash show, but it gives us great confidence knowing its gone on for so long a time and toured so far and wide.

Shawn Holt

Run. . . . Jump . . . . Fly!

That is what the choreographer said. She was serious! And we were seriously committed to the experience.

The dance was called "Paranoimia" and we flew!

(This is not a picture of our dance. It just comes close)