Day 3 -- 2:30 p.m. Time Slot

Show: casebolt and smith: Speaking Out

Company: casebolt and smith

Venue: Southern Theater

Die Roll: 16


First, a thought totally unrelated to the show, merely how I got there. I walked. I walked from the Rarig Center to the Southern. And it was a beautiful walk. I know a lot of people latch onto the Rarig pretty hard because of how much you can see without ever leaving the building, but I just wanted to remind folks that you can easily make it from the Rarig hub'o'Fringe to a number of other venues by foot in the allotted time between shows: Mixed Blood, the Playwrights Center, The Southern, The Nomad, and Bedlam's Parking Lot are all a hop, skip, and a jump away. No cars needed.

Onto the show... This duo comes from California. They've got a good pedigree according to their program bios, and I had heard good things about them in the lobby. Apparently they'd had a good out-of-towner preview (which I missed).

So... this was a show of four pieces (although it felt like five or six). When we entered the space, the dancers were already on the stage going through what I migth guess were warm-ups. However, it looked like a dance had already started. One that was clearly not in the program, however. Because these were warm-ups, I won't review them, other than to say that it was interesting to encounter dance already in progress as you come into the theatre. It creates a more casual atmosphere around the whole event. Sort of a "Hey! Thanks for stoppin' in. Why don't you chill for a while?" kind of feel.

This show marked the premier of one piece... "Two Minute Duet to Open the Show". What a creative title! Well danced, but it didn't leave any impressions on me at all. Other than that these two could move well together and in actual unison (more on that shortly...the next time slot, actually).

The second piece is the one that seemed like two pieces... I think. The duo went through actions accompanied by recordings of ambient noises. They then repeated them throughout a humorous conversation that represented their meeting eah other for the first time and getting to know each other. I must admit that the first half made no sense to me whatsoever, and it was refreshing and reassuring that I recognized the moves on the second go-'round. And, there was both a sense of the piece's brilliance and a ego-driven sense of accomplishment on my part for the rest of the piece. I like art that makes me feel smart, even if it had to make me feel dumb first to accomplish the feat.

The third piece was another set to their own speech and seemed to be a spoof of the way dancers work in creating a piece. What a wonderfully playful work! I can't really describe it without ruining it for those who've yet to see it, so I'll just suggest that you see it. Let me say, though, that one of the best things ever is to see a woman teaching her dance partner the proper way to grab boobs as a dance move!

The final piece was another piece that emphasized the duo's ability to move together wonderfullly. It starts out at a table with little green plastic army men all over it. Individual movements eventually combine and the efforts of two separate entities merge into once cohesive unit. It was beautiful.

These two are well worth the time to venture over to the Southern, even by foot.

TEN WORD SUMMARY: Duo brings comedy and dance together seamlessly. Army men, what?

Rating: d20 - "One of the Best"