By the fourth time the rows of fifth graders were exhorted to raise their voices, they were psyched. “Roooooaaaaaaarhhhh,” they again shouted. This time it worked. The community had spoken; bullying muscle-bound storm god Anzu was routed; the huluppu tree was liberated!

You actually could leave the kids home and still thoroughly enjoy Inanna and the Huluppu Tree. Combining music, dance, aerial acrobatics and theater, the piece was created by Miami Theater Center (MTC)’s founder, Stephanie Ansin and artistic collaborator, Fernando Calzadilla. Based on ancient Sumerian myths, and featuring original music by Luciano Stazzone with choreography by Octavio Campos and aerial choreography by Lleigh Reynolds, it is presented at the MTC in Miami Shores.

If yours are not among the busloads of South Florida schoolchildren lining up for weekday morning performances, bring them to a Saturday evening show. A well-produced study guide serves as a crib sheet to the unfamiliar names and the story line, while also giving props to Sumerian innovations: the wheel, writing, irrigation, arithmetic, the hover-craft. (Not really, but Inanna’s brother Utu’s nimble horseless chariot is slick.)

Actually, the play’s strongest take-away lies in its moral messages, rather than historical lessons. These are first intoned by Great Grandmother Earth, Goddess Ninhursag (Shaneeka Harrell), in a resounding invocation to the play’s principals, her offspring. And more injunctions percolate up during the course of a drama that is delivered in a flowing sequence of short songs, performed with varying degrees of finesse; a wide-ranging musical backdrop; and dances created by Campos in an appealing diversity of fanciful styles — Middle Eastern-ish.

As the play opens, three masked acolytes peer through a richly painted scrim and nervously ask, “Where is he? Where is he?” A restive crowd in the ancient city of Uruk impatiently awaits the coronation of a new king, Prince Gilgamesh (Rico Reid), son of the late king. But he is AWOL, and the play’s namesake character, Inanna (vivacious Diana Garle) — goddess of love, war, fertility, plus a few other divine attributes — is desperate. She has descended with haunting luminosity from heaven to crown Gilgamesh, and he is a no-show. What’s a goddess to do? Stage a diversion.

Enter the huluppu tree. Uprooted and washed adrift in a river of the Urukians’ tears (grieving their king’s death), this sapling was rescued by Inanna, and, after a three-generation divine family dust-up, she plants it next to the temple to serve as a time-marker for the arrival of a new king. Thus, we have our diversion.

But in drama, as in life, plans go awry. Replete with golden fruit and elegantly crafted in graceful wooden arcs and poles, the huluppu tree stands commandingly center stage. It grows thicker and denser before our eyes. An attractive nuisance, however, it soon hosts an unwelcome encampment of three lively new deities (the Sumerians had thousands of them), two of whom flap, roar, swoop and somersault in the air: Luckner Bruno’s thunder-cracking Anzu and acrobatic goddess of merriment and laughter, Siduri (Ana Mendez). They are lifted and propelled with skill and strength by unseen stagehands. (Tip of the hat to Cirque du Soleil, Crouching Tiger and MTC technical director, Ron Burns.)

These oversize characters, each with a distinctive trick bag, neglect official duties to instead cavort, vie for position and devour the tasty huluppu fruit (a few of which they toss into the audience). Among these three freeloaders, the “pharmacist” Ningizzida, (Troy Davidson) eloquently exploits his jokester role and his signature props: a roulette wheel of maladies and herbal remedies and a multi-pocketed cloak of herbs. Inanna is stymied by these loafing lodgers, but then Prince Gilgamesh, the would-be king, returns from his pilgrimage and is put to the test: Can he turn out the freeloaders and restore order to the kingdom? Can Inanna keep him on track, avoiding violence? Will the audience repeatedly surge to his aid? (Does Superman wear a cape?)

Some of the larger-than-life characters are effectively amped-up with computer-enhanced voices and, in the case of Anzu, by that glorious steroidal body armor, enormous wings and yellow-feathered legs. Subtleties of staging and delivery are interwoven amid broader styles of engagement with an indulgent and mostly guileless audience, reared on The Lion King, Star Wars and Xbox. The assembly eagerly embraces this combination of old and new stylings.

In the music, sound design, choreography and deep, richly layered set, we inhabit an ambiguous milieu, but when did you last encounter “authentic” Sumerian music or dance? A combination of live percussion (musicians perched in a Mondrian-like scaffolding within a luminous cathedral of modulated blue light) and commissioned music evocative of such diverse sources as John Williams’ extra-terrestrial scores, early rap and Putamayo’s Arabic Groove carries us through tonal moods that complement the drama. Never outright campy, the playwrights, director, choreographer and actors give an occasional wink to avoid sanctimoniousness, even as they preach that old time religion.

Confession one: My wife and I have no children. Confession two: We cheered with the best of them. You will too.

May 1 – June 2, 2013 at the Miami Theater Center, 9806 N.E. 2nd Ave., Miami Shores; at 10:00 a.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 7:00 p.m. Saturdays; cost is $20; 305-751-9550; www.mtcmiami.org.

Eight dance projects are among the 56 finalists in this year’s Knight Arts Challenge. We’re proud that we’ve been covering 7 out of the 8 groups among the finalists at Artburst. The only group we haven’t covered doesn’t exist yet — but a company led by the regal Peter London sure sounds good to us.

Plus there are 5 more projects that definitely could include dance, 3 proposed by presenters we cover and love.

We have to confess, of course, that we too are funded by the Knight Foundation, so we’re bound to get a little gushy.

And we’re especially proud to see on the list another Artburst funder, Miami-Dade County of Cultural Affairs as well as our partner the Arts & Business Council of Miami.

Still, we hope you’ll agree that all the ideas below are winners and join us in wishing them the best when the winners are announced in November.

2011 Knight Arts Challenge Miami Finalists

Camposition: To promote unity in South Florida through a series of dance-theater productions that suggest artistic solutions to the discord that threatens communities

ERE. Bistoury: To foster improvisational performance through a weeklong, multidisciplinary festival offering free public performances

Inkub8: To cultivate local performing artists by creating a residency program that offers time, space and a modest stipend in exchange for artists teaching classes and exhibiting works

Karen Peterson and Dancers: To provide dance instruction to the 3,000 children with disabilities in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, who will perform their work at a gala performance

Miami City Ballet: To broaden programming and support the future of ballet by establishing a fund for the creation of new works

Peter London Global Dance Theater: To stem the flow of talented local dancers who pursue careers elsewhere by launching the Peter London Global Dance Theater in Miami

Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre: To bring attention to Miami’s distinctive cultural voice by having the innovative Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre employ a full-time ensemble to create a repertoire

Tigertail Productions: To promote innovative thinking in the local dance community through a series of artist-curated and site-specific performances that team visiting and local choreographers

DANCE-ISH
FUNDarte: To expand the visibility of Miami artists by creating a virtual office and interactive blog that will build partnerships among local art presenters

Miami Dade College Cultura del Lobo Performance Series: To provide professional development training for Miami’s performers by creating a series of intensive summer master classes

Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs: To “bring home” prominent and influential Miami artists now living elsewhere through a series of performances at the new South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center

Miami Light Project: To introduce the community to the new Light Box at Goldman Warehouse through a campaign featuring monthly podcasts, open mic and dance jams, artist-community potluck lunches and a direct-mail campaign

Teatro Avante: To promote Miami as the center for Latino performing arts by creating a bilingual website featuring the rich and diverse work Latino artists produce in the United States

ALSO: Arts & Business Council of Miami: To broaden the number and diversity of board candidates accessible to arts organizations by developing a website where professionals can explore their interests, review opportunities and pursue board placement

Whether it’s a gigantic handmade tapestry of villagers in A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings or a larger-than-life digital image of Alice’s face in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The PlayGround Theatre’s visually striking productions have become the trademark of a team that creates captivating performances for children – and the adults who schlep them.

The PlayGround Theatre’s latest creation, The Red Thread, is no exception. Fernando Calzadilla’s set, lighting, and costumes are so vibrant and vital to the story, it’s as if the design elements are characters. And Octavio Campos’ choreography adds to the fluidity of the movement on stage.

The Red Thread, written by Stephanie Ansin and Calzadilla (and directed by Ansin), tells the story of Ling Shih (Christina Jun), the youngest of three impoverished sisters. Their father, a weaver, portrayed by Jesús Quintero, needs only one red thread to complete his silk tapestry. However, frustrated with the family’s poverty, the eldest sister Yao Xue (Kate Shine) steals the tapestry in the middle of the night. Middle sister Mei Hua (Melissa Almaguer) tags along and they sell the masterpiece for food and clothing. Ling Shih, the youngest sister, must embark on an arduous journey to recover her father’s silk tapestry. As she tries to track down the tapestry which has been sold numerous times, she discovers secrets from her past which will ultimately propel her toward a new life.

Photo Captions, Top: Christian T. Chan, Troy Davidson, Christina Jun, Melissa Almaguer in The Red Thread/Photo by Pavel Antonov, 2011;  Bottom: Marjorie O’Neill-Butler, Christian T. Chan, Christina Jun, Jesús Quintero in The Red Thread/Photo by Pavel Antonov, 2011

The stage is made three dimensional by a series of intricately woven ropes that represent a bridge and later a mountain. Christina Jun climbs, swings, and hangs from them valiantly as the frightened but courageous Ling Shih. Venetian blinds serve as a subdued backdrop for the first half of the play, but later the blinds transform into a vivid picturesque landscape that mirrors the tapestry. The dramatic lighting, rope climbing, and stunning visuals create a magical almost cinematic landscape.

The Asian accents of Campos’ choreography are expressive not imitative, so it doesn’t feel gimmicky. Nine darkly clad Ninjas add an element of mystery and entertainment to the production as they leap, crouch, and run across the stage between scenes. Ingenuously, they also serve as effective stage hands.

Troy Davidson is exquisite as the mystic who helps Ling Shih uncover her inner strength and balance. Jun is a perfect fit for the role of Ling Shih. She possesses the agility and athleticism to do the more harrowing physical parts believably, but she is also an actress with a lot of character. Christian Chan is also charismatic as the Prince of Khotan. He and his demanding mother, the Queen of Khotan (Marjorie O’Neill-Butler) add humor to the play’s drama.

The Red Thread pulls together elements of adventure, drama, and humor to create a rich theatrical experience. The PlayGround Theatre is one of the few theaters in South Florida that consistently manages to engage, inform, and delight a multi-generational audience, but don’t take my word for it. I attended The Red Thread with my seven-year-old daughter and my stepsons who are 15 and 16. Miraculously, everyone was speechless for 90 minutes. The grade schooler didn’t fidget and the teenagers couldn’t come up with one sarcastic remark. Silence speaks volumes.

The Red Thread runs through May 27 at The Playground Theater, 9806 NE Second Ave., Miami Shores; For details on dates and times (including matinees), go to: http://www.theplaygroundtheatre.com.

Originally published in SunPost on March 3, 2011.

Miami’s own Dance Now! Ensemble has been telling stories through movement for years. Last weekend at the Colony Theater, they took the audience through a kaleidoscope of tales during the performance, where some sensual encounters felt sublime and other attempts at eliciting a reaction thudded heavily to earth.

The first half of the show, which showcased guest choreographer in residence Tandy Beal’s work, felt schizophrenic in appeal, elusive, and hard to connect to. “Helsenberg’s Principle” was a polite exception, and Dance Now! Co-founding Artistic Director Diego Salterini’s duet with an oversized balloon had moments of tenderness, nostalgia, and connection. Perfectly timed accents and contact with the balloon provided satisfaction and musings on the nature of gravity, and the never-ending search for meaning and contact. “Mysterious Barricades or The Plot without Thickener” left the audience dry and thirsty.

It wasn’t until Co-founding Artistic Director Hannah Baumgarten’s “Pulverized Habitat” that we felt energized, excited, and moved towards engagement.

The choreography was sexy and it presented fresh new takes on ballet and contemporary dance. It had a cool and relaxed pace and the audience was transported into a very palpable and sensual chemistry. It was as if we were participating in a passionate love story that really took its time to develop into maturity. It felt good.

“Six Characters,” a theatrical work conceived, directed, and choreographed by both Salterini and Baumgarten, was the featured work of the evening. It was a fun and interesting play, with wonderful choreographic moments and excellent direction. The surprise homoerotic twist was beautifully danced and choreographed, and the diva’s solo was captivating.

Here and Now and Miami Made

Another Miami favorite to look forward to is Miami-born, Cuban-American transdisciplinary artist Octavio Campos, during the Miami Made Weekend at the Adrienne Arsht center in collaboration with the Miami Light Project Here & Now Festival. Campos will turn the audience into social activists as he tackles themes of intolerance and same-sex domestic violence with artistic collaborator Bill Spring. His work-in-progress piece is part of the Arsht Center’s Incubator Program. “No Music in this House” is the latest installment of Please Don’t Hate Me!, a series of “cultural interventions, social experiments, and performances.”

Through the weekend, other new works will be offered up on stage from some of Miami’s best, including Letty Bassart and her “Requiem for a Mustard Seed Closes in Song, Act 1;” Teo Castellanos’ latest D-Projects piece, “Fat Boy;” and a new collaboration from Elizabeth Doud and Carlos Caballero.

It’s free first come first seat, but a $35 pass gets you in for sure.

Miami Made weekend March 4 through 6, at the Carnival Studio Theater and Peacock Foundation Studio of the Arsht Center; www.arshtcenter.org.

Artburst Exclusive January 9, 2011 Slowly, but surely, Miami’s contemporary choreographers develop their work, right before our eyes. This weekend’s Miami Dances program, part of this year’s excellent Florida Dance Festival Winterfest, featured pieces in various stages of progress. The evening opened on a bare stage with the most nascent piece, a solo for Ilana Reynolds choreographed by Augusto Soledade of Brazz Dance. “Cordel” is a bright, abstract piece that at times seems like a slowed-down break dance routine or — a better description for this Brazilian-born choreographer who fuses Afro-Brazilian forms with contemporary dance — a slow motion-capoeira fight.

Octavio Campos presented fragments of two new solo dance theater pieces, “Please Don’t Hate Me!!!” and “Mermaids, Porn Stars, & Pigs.” I don’t know where one piece left off and the other began; this performance seemed seamless to me. I assume that when Campos scrawled the letters H-A-T-E on separate, shiny aluminum sheets and read injunctions against specific sexual acts from the Bible, that was the “Don’t Hate Me.” When he put on a big mask and draped a Cuban flag from his undies, I’m guessing that was “MPSP.” Typical of Campos, each piece is calculated to provoke: I can’t think of a better name for his final gesture of breaking in the middle of the hallowed Cuban anthem “Guantanamera” to unleash a golden shower than “Piss Marti.” Typical of my reaction to Campos’ work, my favorite moments are the intimate dialogues where he shares his everyday experience as a prelude to his outrageous performance. Here, he relayed a pick up line from a Miccosukee he met at Versailles, who told him that the two men had been pigs together on a farm on the outskirts of Berlin during the Weimar Republic which led to the performance of a full Weimar cabaret number. Of course!

The second half of the program was similarly structured, with a hard-working Ilana Reynolds returning for a solo from Letty Bassart’s “100.” I missed an earlier version of this piece and was happy to catch up. It was especially interesting to see the same dancer perform Soledade’s and Bassart’s work, highlighting the differences in their movement vocabulary. In “Cordel,” Reynolds often supported herself on her palms, lifting off the ground with freed kneeds or shooting up into the air. In “100,” Bassart set the restriction of never touching letting the palms touch the ground, with the effect that Reynolds is frequently gliding across the floor, her body slowly following the back of her hand. The first movement of the piece is set to an instrumental version of “Amazing Grace,” played simultaneously with two women talking about the relationship one of them had with her now deceased husband, “Vincent.” This decontextualized conversation is manipulated to repeat key phrases, emphasizing the difficulty of showing affection to loved ones and the feeling of loss left by those missed opportunities. Those ideas reverberate in the second movement, danced in silence, and the third, with a quick electronic soundtrack. I am still wondering what “100″ means and looking forward to more clues as the work continues to develop.

I have seen several iterations of the final piece of the program, from solo to ensemble versions of Heather Maloney’s “Vertical Sprawl.” This was the first time Maloney has presented her mediation on overconsumption on a proscenium stage. I prefer the intimacy provided by the alternative spaces where she’s staged the work before, but others in the audience enjoyed the more formal presentation. As always, I am impressed by the intensity of interaction and the strength demonstrated in partnering in Maloney’s work, especially — though not exclusively — in the interaction between paraplegic dancer John Beauregard (that descriptor seems unnecessary here, so integrated and vital is he to the performance). One of my favorite moments had dancer Carlota Pradera diving head first across Beauregard’s lap like a missile.

January 4, 2011 Octavio Campos is not dead. The Miami-born, Cuban-American multi-disciplinary artist has been quiet for a while, but now the boundary-breaker is set to unleash two new projects on us — involving a motley assortment of characters from mermaids to porn stars — that he promises will challenge our media culture and assumptions of gender and politics. Yep, he’s definitely alive.

Known for his subversive theatrical performances, Campos’s fearless and untamed work deconstructs the status quo and repositions the taboo in the spotlight. Over the past 25 years, Campos has collaborated as a dancer, performance provocateur, arts advocate, LGBT activist, educator, and choreographer in theater, dance, music, television, and film. He studied dance and composition at the State University of New York at Purchase, the Martha Graham School, and the Folkwang Schule of Pina Bausch in Germany, where he decided to stay and perform for a number of years.

After returning to Miami, he founded the interdisciplinary performance ensemble Camposition. Fortunately for the creative flowering of Miami, Campos has influenced the next generation of performance artists through master classes and workshops worldwide, including at the New World School of the Arts, the Florida Dance Festival, and the Broward Correctional Institute for Women.

1. List five things that inspire you.

-Pina Bausch
-Silence
-Laughter
-The Internet
-Movement

2. What was your last big project?

1,000 Homosexuals, a comedy that I produced based on the 1970s Anita Bryant crusade against gay civil rights in Miami-Dade County.

3. What’s your next big project?

There are two brewing right now: Mermaids, Porn Stars, and Pigs is a one man show with guests that looks at “POPlitics” and how the media influences our world; and Please Don’t Hate Me, a series of transdisciplinary performance interventions and social experiments to promote acceptance — not intolerance — and to encourage everybody to look for the heroes within themselves, and to fight for equal rights creating a catalyst for social change.

4. Why do you do what you do?

I love to inspire others and make people laugh with my point of view on life. My favorite quote is, “Life has more imagination than we dream,” from Christopher Columbus. I believe we must engage and devour life and the world before it eats us.

5. What’s something you want Miami to know about you?

Octavio Campos and Camposition are not dead! Although I haven’t produced any work in the past couple of years, I am back and ready to take creative risks again.

What’s something you don’t want Miami to know about you?

I am secretly in love with my neighbor and Grand Dame of Miami, Judy Drucker.

Octavio Campos presents new work at the Florida Dance Festival’s Winterfest, at 8pm on Friday January 7 and Saturday, January 8 at the Byron Carlyle.

Originally published in the Miami New Times in December 2010.

January 4, 2011 Step by step, Miami is getting the message out: Dance is to be had in this town, and it is good. Want proof? Visit the Miami Dances showcase this weekend, where you can see winners past and present of the Dance Miami Choreographers Fellowship Program.

Sponsored by Miami-Dade’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the program provides grants to local professional choreographers. This year, a panel of renowned dance experts from across the country chose three winners that exemplify Miami’s diversity and talent Miami: Augusto Soledade, artistic director of the Brazz Dance Theater company, which blends Afro-Brazilian and contemporary dance; Alexey Taran, artistic director of the experimental ERE.Bistoury company; and independent choreographer and Miami native Letty Bassart.

The fellowship, literally, can mean the difference between jumping for joy, or dragging one’s meant-to-be-dancing feet. Just ask Soledade.

“It is an absolutely essential program in this county, and my understanding is that there are not too many of this kind throughout the country,” says this three-time winner of the DMF grant, who originally established his company in Massachusetts in 1998, and moved it to South Florida in 2004 when he got hired by Florida International University as an assistant dance professor. Now, as FIU has scrapped its dance department, Soledade will no longer have a job there after this year, making the $10,000 fellowship even more indispensable.

“Dance as a discipline survives on the generosity of supporters and grant programs,” explains the Bahia native, now in his mid-40s. “The fellowship reflects an understanding of the costs that choreographers face in order to be able to produce any kind of dancing.”
Program director Adriana Pérez, the Projects Administrator for the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs who selects the panelists, agrees.

“Our mission is to have the artist create new works,” says Pérez. Now in her third season in charge of the program which began in 2000. “The fellowship can allow dancers to attend dance conferences and meet and network with other dance companies nationwide and be able to start collaborations outside of Miami. And it helps them to just create, create, create.”

Panelists Point of View

“I was very impressed not only by the quality and the diversity of the artists, but also by the way the panel conducted the process and how it was organized by Miami-Dade,” says New York panelist Gina Gibney, choreographer and artistic director of Gina Gibney Dance, a pioneer in taking dance to communities by working with abused women and children and HIV patients. “It is very rare for a county, for a government entity, to create fellowships as these. The kind of trust that they put in the artists is unique.”

Although the panelists reviewed applicants with many different backgrounds and styles, there are certain elements that they must all share in order to be selected.

“When you look at a performer, is there a commitment to excellence? Is there a commitment to the art form as a whole? And then, within the structure, is what they’re showing of the creative strength that needs to be sponsored?” asks panelist Michael Uthoff, artistic and executive director of Dance St. Louis, Missouri. Originally from Chile, Uthoff is familiar with the local scene, thanks to working over the years with the New World School of the Arts and with the Dance Now! Ensemble.

Uthoff adds that no matter how creative the dance, it must connect with the audience. “Is this something that will bring more audiences to the theater, or will it basically make people run away and never come back?” he wonders. “Very often, grants are given to individuals who show a great deal of originality, and perhaps in three-years time, they will develop something that works for the theater. But right now, we need to focus on how do we fill those houses. That was the argument that we had.”

This year at least, the panel — which also included Aubrey Lynch, choreographer on Broadway and former dancer for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — could not come up with a single answer for that argument. Instead they put their faith in three talents and made three awards.

Florida Dance Association’s Winter Fest presents Miami Dances, featuring Soledade and Bassart as well as past winners Octavio Campos and Heather Maloney, at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the Byron Carlyle Theatre, 500 71^st Street, Miami Beach. Tickets cost $15; $10 students/seniors; $8 FDA members. Call 305-310-8080 or visit floridadanceassociation.org.

March 4-6

New works from some of Miami’s best during the Here & Now and Incubator-commissioned weekend. Featured works come from: Carlos Caballero and Elizabeth Doud; Teo Castellanos; Pioneer Winter; Ana Mendez; Sipiwe Moyo; Beatriz Montanez; Letty Bassart; Liony Garcia; Summer Hill Seven; and Octavio Campos. Free, or special seating for a $35 pass; for times and dates, got to artscenter.org.