The female ensemble of dancers performed Tyson’s linear choreography against a backdrop of algebra equations, shifting blocks and a dreamy space odyssey.

Time was the inspiration for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee dance performance, “Winterdances” which was performed this past weekend on the Mainstage theatre. The faculty-choreographed show featured six contemporary works that varied in ballet, modern and jazz styles.

Luc Vanier’s ballet piece, “Women if Possible,” showcased six female dancers portraying different women that had impacted Vanier in his life. Though I wasn’t entirely impressed with this work, Vanier’s choreography, which mixed Alexander Technique and linear ballet shaping, was appealing to view. A beautiful repeated movement throughout this piece included a female dancer contracting her spine forward as she hopped back one-step. I was also unimpressed with the music choice of Vanier’s piece, which sounded like a child playing at their first piano recital.

My favorite work of the night came from Andre Tyson. His modern piece, “The Permanence of Goldfish,” featured Megan Zintek dancing solo against a large projection screen. This screen featured tantalizing images that accentuated Tyson’s athletic choreography executed by Zintek. Zintek’s beautiful shaping and flexibility was impeccable to watch. She wore a shiny gold tube top and maroon yoga pants as she collapsed, jived and slid across the stage. As an aquarium of goldfish appeared on the stage’s backdrop, Zintek slivered into darkness as the lights came down.

Janet Lily presented “Nightfalls”, a modern dance that featured another kind of animal; fireflies. The audience did not know that the dancers in this piece resembled fireflies until the very end of the work. At the beginning of the piece, Lily’s dancers flew across the stage in beautiful light colored robes as an orchestra of guitars played loudly, sounding like a droning freight train. Lily played with fast and slow time throughout her choreography. Dancers would all be at a standstill on stage and then suddenly they would rush every which way in organized chaos.

One ensemble member, Javier Marchn, impressed me with his bold, fleeting leaps and instant connectivity of his body to the floor as he rolled across it. The climactic ending to Lily’s work kept me on the edge of my seat as several members of the ensemble disrobed part of their dress and fled the stage. Simon Eichinger instantly slid into this pile of clothing, sending it flying everywhere about the stage.

After a few more moments of organized chaos, one lone female dancer walked to the center of the stage and uncovered a jar that revealed to the audience what insects the dancers had portrayed. The second act of “Winterdances” featured Darci Wutz’s restaging of “Cell Block Tango” from the musical, “Chicago”. Though I learned nothing new from watching this performance, having seen it many times before, I was happy to see that Wutz staged the musical theatre number differently then the staging from the Oscar-winning movie.

Ads from “Winterdances” claimed that Wutz’s work would feature dancers “doing time” but even with this in mind, I had a hard time figuring out why this work was placed in this time-inspired show.

The second work by Andre Tyson, “Organic Algorithms”, wasn’t as impressive as his “Goldfish” number, but I did enjoy the digital visuals he created for it. The female ensemble of dancers performed Tyson’s linear choreography against a backdrop of algebra equations, shifting blocks and a dreamy space odyssey. A comedic moment where one of the dancers, Shauna Opitz, showed fear when she lost her place amongst the other dancers was very funny. Tyson continued to display these comedic surprises throughout the remainder of his work.

Though I didn’t see the overall theme of time in every dance work performed in “Winterdances,” I felt that the variety of different styles that were performed during the concert proved to be very enjoyable.

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