diSiac’s spring show ‘Ablaze’ sets fire to the stage

I promised myself that I wouldn’t be the sort of reviewer who does nothing but shower praise. I would be stern, critical, with a healthy rationing of compliments and complaints. But then diSiac showed up and ruined everything. “Ablaze,” diSiac Dance Company’s spring show, is excellent. So excellent, in fact, that at times they made me forget that I was supposed to be reviewing their performance. I found myself being swept up in the dancing.

Every dance show is grounded in its choreography. If the choreography isn’t intricate — if it isn’t innovative or varied — then even the best dancers will struggle to compensate. Often in student dance groups one or two steps will work themselves into more than one piece, becoming a sort of unintentional and unwelcome motif that takes away from each dance’s individuality. diSiac, however, has no such issue. Its choreography is thoroughly original, never once throwing the audience into a state of deja vu. This speaks not only to the choreographic creativity of diSiac, but also to the singularity of each of the 14 dances in the show.

Though intricate, the dances are not overwhelming. Despite the closeness of the audience and the small stage size, the dancers do not appear restricted. In the Act I Finale, "This Bitter Earth," the contemporary dancers’ pristine synchrony and spatial confidence make the stage appear even bigger than it is, a truly remarkable achievement.

The contemporary dancers were beautiful, pairing admirable technique with stunning choreography. Act II's opening dance, "Latch," features particularly innovative partnering, as does "The Fear." The second contemporary piece, "We Are Precious," choreographed by Grayden Holubar ’13, is particularly notable, partnering strength with fluidity in a dance featuring seven male contemporary dancers. The final contemporary piece, "Lovers’ Eyes," is also stunning and is the highlight of Act II.

Most of the contemporary pieces have a more stoic or serious nature. One can’t help but leave with the impression that the hip-hop dancers have more fun in their dancing. Intense, meaningful dances are captivating and, in the case of diSiac, incredibly well done, but the contemporary genre should not ban happiness or euphoria. The only contemporary piece that is particularly joyful is Act II’s "The Burning Young," a piece that would be dramatically more exciting if more of the dancers smiled. It’s a cliche critique, but it is undeniably true that a stage full of smiling dancers — when dancing in an appropriately joyful piece — is more pleasant than one filled with stony gazes.

The hip-hop dancers have no such trouble. Their consistent musicality, investment in their characters and attention to details shines through most of their pieces. Many of the hip-hop dances are segmented into two or three different parts, which is both good and bad. Different segments within an individual hip-hop number allow the dancers to pause and experiment with a new style and tempo, but it also makes each dance slightly disjointed.

Both the hip-hop and the contemporary pieces masterfully highlight each dancer while not distracting from the group as a whole. Dancers are featured briefly and impressively, but the focus is always on the group rather than the individual. The same can be said of the tricks — flips and break-dancing — that are present in some of the hip-hop dances. They act as a strong supplement to the group’s dancing, but do not replace solid technique. All of the dances are packed with energy, and though there is the occasional misstep the dances are generally well-synchronized.

Perhaps more importantly, each dance tells a story, and in most cases it is a story that would be equally compelling when removed from the context of the production. The end of each dance is reminiscent of its beginning, sometimes literally and other times more abstractly. This attention to the completeness of choreography gives each dance the strength to stand on its own, outside of the production as a whole.

This does, however, detract slightly from the persuasiveness of the guiding theme, “Ablaze.” As all good themes are, this one is nicely ambiguous and lends itself to virtually any narrative a choreographer can imagine. This liberal feature of “Ablaze,” however, meant that the individual dances were more diverse than cohesive. The lighting in the opening and concluding dances was similar, but apart from that there was little unity from dance to dance. The theme — which implies a growing excitement — had little relevance to the production, which is more exciting in the first half than in the second.

Theoretically, a theme should be orienting, not merely a concept to justify after a piece is already conceived. That said, I would much rather watch a production that is diverse and varying than one that is particularly monothematic. It seems that what begs to be critiqued is not the lack of cohesion within a production, but the institution of imposing a concept onto a piece that is capable of standing on its own.

diSiac has carved incredibly high standards for itself, and “Ablaze” does not hesitate to meet them. As a whole production, “Ablaze” is exceptionally professional. The lighting design is wonderful and the music well-chosen. The costumes are simple but serve to extenuate the dancing rather than create a spectacle. The dancing is superb, the choreography is creative and thoughtful, and the performance is wonderfully entertaining. Of course it is. It’s diSiac.