More than 'Dirt'

Marcia Rowe, Gleaner Writer

Many ideas and thoughts have been voiced about love. 'Love believes all things, hopes all things' and 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all' are just two of the more well known quotes about love.

If dissected thoroughly, both examples conjure a montage of emotions: joy, pleasure, pain and suffering; thus creating a minefield for the creators of songs, plays and dance.

Pro Moves Dance Company, in its second season of dance went into the minefield of love and came up with more than a fistful of 'Dirt'.

And, with some innovative, passionate and high-energy movements, the company danced and sang of their 'haul', on Saturday, at the Courtleigh Auditorium, on St Lucia Avenue.

The dances that made up the show, pertinently titled DIRT ... Revealing the Secrets that Lie Beneath the Surface of what you See, were grouped into four sections: The Courtship, Instincts, Unspoken Secrets and Resilience.

The Courtship began in silhouette and was performed alongside the soothing sounds of Michael Giacchino's ballroom music.

Shortly after the curtains were opened, the bright lights revealed four white-clad women seated on individual chairs. Four men were also on hand for the courtship.

Intriguing formations

It was a much larger group that performed Checkin You Out. On this occasion the music was uptempo.

The dance was also a wave of intriguing formations and culminated into one of the better endings of the evening. For this dance the performers wore black,

Butterflies was a collage of the different forms of courtships, captured by three singers placed in the centre of the stage and the timely entrances and exits of dancers mainly in pairs walking from stage left to right and vice versa.

Both Sides was comical in some part but was weakened by the repetition of some poor choice of movements.

Body Language, performed by the company, revealed what lies within the heart.

Dangerous, the all-male dance, was fantastic. Dressed in suits, the gentlemen were very entertaining and for the most part danced in unison.

The dance was also a demonstration of Browne's predominant use of a modern contemporary style. The dancers performed with passion.

However, the most fervent and the dirtiest of all secrets was revealed in Tied and Tried.

Tiana Chung with support from Kirk Cheung showed the image of obsession, torment and abuse. Her edgy but convincing portrayal of an emotionally battered victim managed to silence the fair-sized audience.

On the other hand, the all female dance Done will be remembered for its spectacular ending.

Other titles on the programme were Just for Kicks, Oh So Dirty and Breathless. They were just as brightly costumed and, for the most part, entertaining.

But alas the show was plagued with opening night hiccups and some amateurish presentations. There were too many long pauses between items, especially in segment two. And the seemingly anticipated delay filler through narration was overpowered by poor timing and poor articulation.

The unseen MC became redundant by announcing the names of sponsors whenever there was a long delay, and there were more than a couple such instances.