Dancers’ Workshop marks holidays in ‘Oz’

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

By Ben Cannon

Joining a recent trend in which some dance companies have decided to buck the holiday tradition of performing “The Nutcracker,” Jackson Hole’s Dancers’ Workshop has opted this year to celebrate the spirit of the holidays with a widely beloved American fairy tale.

This weekend, the Dancers’ Workshop junior repertory company, along with 60 other community dancers, will interpret through ballet and modern dance Frank Baum’s classic “The Wizard of Oz,” premiering at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Center for the Arts Theater, 250 S. Cache St.

Though Dancers’ Workshop has in years past put on “The Nutcracker” for its annual holiday performance, it has also choreographed and staged holiday productions such as “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” another epic for all ages not usually associated with December festivities.

For “Oz,” the troupe’s managing staff – Artistic Director Babs Case, Show Director Kate Kosharek and Assistant Director Jen Walker – with the help of a few other DW choreographers, began the process of bring Oz to life in September, taking into account the stylistic strengths of each young dancer when casting and choreographing for the production’s principal roles. That means Dorothy (Lindsay Thoskildsen) and her trio of yet compatriots find their way to and down the Yellow Brick Road through more modernist numbers, while Glenda the Good Witch (Michaela Ellingson) is a classic, regal ballerina.

High school senior Thoskildsen joins classmates Nadija Rieser as the Scarecrow, with Siobham Chariott playing the Tinman and Sarah Fallon as the Cowardly Lion.
“It’s America’s favorite fairy tale told through dance,” Kosharek said Saturday evening after a long day’s rehearsal.  

Kosharek selected an eclectic score for “Oz,” deliberately omitting any music from the iconic 1939 movie starring Judy Garland (and also with none from “The Wiz,” the Motown-influenced Broadway production turned 1978 film with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross). Instead, Kosharek looked primarily to modern composers – from George Gershwin to folk classical hybrid Penguin Café Orchestra and electronica pioneer Aphex Twin – to stitch together a musical collage that can alternately evoke familiarity and create for the audience new sonic landscapes to accompany one of the most widely known American narratives.

Case said this incarnation of “Oz” is pulled both from the film and Baum’s original work, “The Wonderful World of Oz,” which includes story elements not seen in the MGM film.
“Kate [Kosharek] did a really good job between using elements of the book and the movie,” Case said.  “If people are expecting the movie, they definitely won’t get that.”
The predominately young cast (adult performers fill only the roles of Uncle Henry and Auntie Em) of 85 dancers will recreate on stage the whole universe of critters, characters, minions and bizarre phenomena of good ol’ Kansas and the Emerald City in a heady, fantastical whirl on the stage.

“The Wizard of Oz,” premieres Thursday and runs through Saturday. Show times each night is 7:30 p.m., with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee. Ticket prices vary with performances and range from $15 to $23. Tickets can be purchased at the Center for the Arts box office or by calling 733-4900.
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Dancers’ Workshop marks holidays in ‘Oz’ | Planet JH News Article: General Music Arts and Culture

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