Day 5 -- 7:00 p.m. Time Slot

Show: Stray Pieces

Company: Kari Jensen & Moving Arts Ensemble

Venue: Ritz Theater

Die Roll: 16


I had my daughter along again on Monday night, but she didn't get to choose the shows. She had her day. Now, if she was going to be with me, she had to risk seeing something that might be a little too grown-up for her. Luckily this show was perfect for a single dad to take his daughter to on short notice.

This was a selection of dance pieces that were staged by a varied group of choreographers. There were primarily three groups of dancers that made up the company for this show. First, the ballet company which was comprised of some of the best I've seen in town. The second group was a duo who did a mix of Hip-Hop and Jazz (with some belly-dancing moves thrown in for good measure) on one piece, and then tapped on a couple of other pieces. And finally, there was a pair who did some comedic turns at ballroom dancing.

My favorite parts of the show were the on pointe ballet numbers. One entitled Karabushka featured some Russian folk dance influences. My other fave was a longer piece made up of six movements. The whole selection was entitled "Episodes" and the dancers performed either solos or duets that played out emotions such as "Lonely" or "Stubborn", as well as "Loving" and "Dominating" (two dances that had an ironic amount of similarity in their feel).

One thing that bummed me out about this show was tha tI didn't get to see shannon Corbett dance her selections. She is really good. BUT the trade off was that I got to witness a much larger dose of Kari Jensen, and she is also quite good. All in all, this was a dance show that had beauty, humor, grace, and precision. It did a remarkably good job of capturing the feelings of the music in the movements of the dancers.

There were some inconsistencies from dance to dance, as the ballet dancers were clearly in a league above the others experience-wise. But, everything was fun to watch.

TEN WORD SUMMARY: Ballet, Tap, Ballroom, and other styles capture magic in movement.

Rating: d12 - "A Heckuva Lotta Fun"