Culture Fiend

Spectrum’s Miraculous Mandarin Canceled

For being too sexy?

Posted by: Laura Dannen on May 18, 2012 at 05:30PM 0 Comments

Photo courtesy Spectrum.

Just got this press release from Spectrum Dance Theatre announcing the cancellation of its performances of Miraculous Mandarin, a free outdoor show taking place in the windows of the Bush Hotel in the International District. Still need the other side of this story, but if you planned to go this weekend, read on… UPDATED 5/21/12. Matthew Richter of Storefronts Seattle has responded within the comments on Slog. Seems the material was too sexually explicit for a public venue where young kids could be running around. Find his full response here.

Storefronts Seattle Program Director Matthew Richter withdrew program sponsorship of Spectrum Dance Theater’s performances of The Miraculous Mandarin in the Bush Hotel. Richter cited dramatic sexual depictions and implied nudity as the reason for the withdrawal.

Without support from Storefronts Seattle, Spectrum Dance Theater must vacate the Bush Hotel. Performances for the remainder of the run are cancelled until further notice. Spectrum is seeking alternate venues.

The Miraculous Mandarin was to be presented in six performances May 17-19 & May 24-26, free of charge, in the windows of the Bush Hotel overlooking Hing Hay Park in the Chinatown-International District.

People who made seat reservations will be contacted about the cancellations and potential relocation of the performances. The related tour of the historic Freeman Hotel at the Wing Luke Museum on Saturday, May 19, will take place as planned.

Based on the ballet by composer Bela Bartók, which was repeatedly banned throughout the 20th century, The Miraculous Mandarin is a work that is for a mature audience, and is not intended for children. The performances were to take place from 8:30-9:20pm in Hing Hay Park, located in the Seattle’s Chinatown-International District. An audience talkback with artistic director Donald Byrd and the performers was to take place following each performance.

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Tags: Spectrum Dance

Free Tickets to Oklahoma! at 5th Avenue Theatre

They’re giving away 2,100 tickets this Saturday—time to queue up.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Jan 18, 2012 at 12:00PM 3 Comments

Eric Ankrim is Curly in Oklahoma!, opening February 3 at 5th Avenue Theatre.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Eric Ankrim is Curly in Oklahoma!, opening February 3 at 5th Avenue Theatre.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Spectrum dancers rehearse the dream ballet in Oklahoma!.

It’s like Black Friday for thespians. Starting at 8am this Saturday, 5th Avenue Theatre will hand out free tickets to its February 5 performance of Oklahoma!. There are more than enough passes to go around (2,100), with a limit of four per household. All you have to do is queue up—hopefully not in the snow—and accept that fact that you’ll be missing the Super Bowl.

Ah yup. This free show is at the same time as the big game. But 5th Ave knows its audience—this giveaway is for the men, women, and children who only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials (and you can DVR those anyway). In exchange for a night of nachos, light beer, and extreme grunting, you’ll get to see an updated production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, with new choreography by Spectrum Dance’s Donald Byrd.

The Tony-nominated choreographer earned accolades for his work on Broadway’s The Color Purple and his collaborations with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. But since signing on as artistic director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater a decade ago, he’s taken the lead locally in creating unflinching, emotionally charged dance performances, interpreting everything from domestic abuse to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through modern dance. In his hands, and with the help of director Peter Rothstein, Oklahoma!will receive a more critical treatment. Don’t dismiss it as a lightweight cowpoke love story with a jaunty score (“Surrey With the Fringe On Top,” anyone?). There’s a darkness to the script regarding turn-of-the-century race relations—in 1906, the Oklahoma Territory was home to one of the nation’s largest communities of freed slaves—and 5th Ave plans to honor that reality with an interracial cast. It’s a new look with a familiar score. The wind, as always, will go whipping down the plains.

Oklahoma!
5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave, Feb 3–Mar 4

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Tags: Theater, 5th Avenue Theatre, Spectrum Dance , Ticket Giveaways

The Variety Show Is a ‘Hypnotic Circus’

Dance-theater performance lets big talent dabble in the absurd.

Posted by: Allyson Marrs on Apr 26, 2011 at 01:30PM 1 Comments

Photo: courtesy Gennadiy Kondratyev.

Spectrum Dance, Seattle Dance Project, and ACT team up for The Variety Show.

Cross-dressing hosts. Floozies with hula hoops. Two nearly naked men jumping in sync to Method Man’s “Release Yo’Self.” You can’t call it The Variety Show without holding true to the name. But this crazed collection of short dance-theater pieces benefits from the touch of star choreographers—Spectrum Dance’s Donald Byrd and Seattle Dance Project’s Timothy Lynch among them—and two beloved emcees, Cherdonna and Lou. It’s a hypnotic circus of cabaret and clowning, Euro disco and somber solos.

But the fun starts with the Cherdonna and Lou show, whose appearances are fleeting but memorable. Lou, rocking a gold pantsuit and George Michael scruff, plays a tiny piano as Amazonian Cherdonna—a blonde Frankenfurter in a skin-tight leotard—perches on top, singing “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” They bring the laughs, while pieces like Lola, featuring Kylie Lewallen, show a darker fury, the agony of lust. Lewallen plays the sorceress, placing a Bellatrix-style Cruciatus Curse on three men who writhe about in pain on the floor. It’s hard to look talented while playing the tortured soul; these guys pull it off.

And then there are those hula-hooping floozies: three dames in lingerie, garters and feathers trying to impress judge Tim Lynch with their less-than-stellar hula hooping. Donald Byrd directs their slow seduction, and sets it to Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s “Alabama Song.” Like the rest of the show, this piece embraces the unconventional, and gives some very talented dancers the opportunity to let loose—even forgoing the traditional curtain call to flail about the stage, with a skip and a twirl.

The Variety Show, a collaboration by Spectrum Dance Theater, Seattle Dance Project, and ACT’s Central Heating Lab, is on at ACT Apr 28–30, and then at Spectrum Dance Theater Studio May 6 & 7.

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Tags: Dance, ACT , Spectrum Dance , Seattle Dance Project

There’s a Monster Loose in Seattle

Brace yourselves.

Posted by: Laura Dannen on Mar 10, 2011 at 09:30AM 0 Comments

Nick Cave’s soundsuits hit the town. Photo: Courtesy James Prinz

(Originally published February 2011.) He’s a tower of multicolored hair, silky locks from head to toe. No eyes, no ears. Just a Day-Glo Sasquatch with a penchant for shimmying. Rumor has it he has friends, and they could show up outside your office at any moment. Will you be ready for the invasion? Will you be ready to dance? Because they’re coming…the artists are coming.

Beneath the fuzzy full-body armor are Spectrum and Cornish dancers, tapped to frolic around town this spring inside “soundsuits” created by Chicago artist Nick Cave. He builds beautiful, cacophonous costumes-as-sculptures made of found objects, everything from human hair to sequins to sandwich bags. A collection of suits, titled Meet Me At the Center of the Earth, goes on display at Seattle Art Museum today, March 10, through June 5, but SAM plans to take the suits for a walk, too.

We hear that if you happen to be in downtown Seattle shopping this afternoon—say, 4ish—you might encounter one of these invasions. And these aren’t amateurs flailing about in furry costumes: Cave, a former Alvin Ailey dancer, has been working with local choreographer Donald Byrd to prep the Spectrum team for its performances. SAM will drop hints about the invasions on its Facebook and Twitter pages (@iheartSAM), but you can also see a scheduled show at Friday night’s Remix.

For more on Cave and the upcoming spring arts calendar, read our Spring Arts Preview.

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Tags: Visual Art, Seattle Art Museum, Dance, Preview, Nick Cave, Spectrum Dance , Donald Byrd