The Reviews Archive

War, the Vietcong, and Just Going Somewhere

The Samantha Giron Dance Project’s “Interrogations,” being presented as part of the 2008 Boulder Fringe Festival in Naropa Performing Arts Center (PAC), consists of three works that deal with topics ranging from the torture of a Vietcong prisoner to a delightful journey “somewhere and back.” The works show promise in the abilities of a choreographer to deal with a diversity of inspirations to build dances.

On Sunday August 17th Samantha Giron presented “Fire Dairy” and “Interrogations” as two solo works choreographed and performed by her. Both works dealt with topics associated with the Vietnam War and Vietcong prisoners. Both were performed with a constancy of dance modality, music, and lighting that limited the performance lives of both pieces, something that can happen when one tries to sustain interest in back to back solo works by one artist. Giron chose lighting that used shins and the PAC’s architecture to cast shadows on the walls that magnified the dances. Unfortunately, with no front or back lighting much of the dancer (Giron), and her dances were left unrevealed. “Interrogations” was performed with slavish and virtually total agreement with Ken Christianson’s live violin score, which also helped lessen performance life.

“Quickly Going Somewhere and Back” was a delightful work choreographed by Giron in collaboration with dancer Letania Kirkland and violinist Christiansen, with Kirkland dancing a lead role as Christianson played and danced with her. Unlike the first two works the lighting revealed the performers, and the work was helped by Kirkland’s stunning presence, which served well even when she was still. The choreography was well crafted, using stillness and rapid dynamic changes that showed off Kirkland’s dance abilities, without resorting to flips and tricks.

One of the joys of the Fringe is seeing new, exciting, and emerging talent. All three are present in the Samantha Giron Dance Project’s “Interrogations.”

Donald K. Atwood MFA, Ph.D. atwood@worlddancereviews.com

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