Written by guest reviewer Nancy Burnham
Nancy Burnham received her BFA in dance performance from the New World School of the Arts in Miami. She was a board member of the Florida Dance Education Organization from 2004 to 2011, started the National Honor Society for Dance Arts for the state of Florida in 2006 and was its Chairperson from 2006 to 2011. She received her MFA in Choreography from Jacksonville University in 2014.
The inaugural Fort Myers Fringe Festival 2023 kicked off on Thursday, June 1st at the Alliance for the Arts and Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre. Future Perfect premiered at the Foulds Theatre at the Alliance at 7:30 PM
Future Perfect was such a fitting name for this modern dance piece. It was conceived and realized by Alyce Bochette and Kelly Natella Mathuru with collaboration from an extremely talented ensemble of dancers including Diana Alvizuris, Stephanie Mas, Sarah Thornburg, Madeline Wellman and Smantha Vos with featured choreography by Eddy Borges.
The Foulds Theatre was the idyllic setting for this incredibly intimate piece. The space added an extra sense of not only being close to the performers, but lending a sense of being an interactive part of what was happening on the stage. It provides a space for the viewer to be held and understood as a being in our world today. The proximity of the dancers also emphasized that feeling of connectedness and support.
The piece examines and highlights the truth that change will always be a constant, the reverberations that we as humans have on the world and on one another in equal negative and positive ways, the power in connection and ultimately the desire to leave this world a better place than when we entered.
The dancers were technically brilliant and revealed their souls through the movement. They allowed the audience to connect with the story they were telling on stage. The viewer could feel and sense their own struggles and joys through the movement. This performance was breathtaking, beautiful, intimate and touched each audience member in a very powerful way.
The choreography was intense, extremely demanding and exhausting while at other times subtle, poignant and intimate. The choreographers afforded the dancers the opportunity to share their personal struggles and celebrations through set movements that resounded universally as well as create their own movement that revealed their pains and joys. The use of red fabric throughout the piece projected the idea of binding or being restricted and also helped to bring dancers together. It symbolized silencing our voices and our ability to breathe, covering our sight and how we see the world, binding our hands and feet so that we can’t move in the direction of our souls and the struggle to break free from those bonds. Then later it was used to assist in bringing people together and holding space for one another as well as holding them to us. One of the last sections of the piece has the dancers all falling while one is left standing and lets out an exhausted yell. It reflected how one may feel in today’s world, which is drained by the pace of life and its constant demands, wearing us down to the bone physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. And in the next breath the dancers were supporting each other and lifting each other up. Human embrace it is what saves us….each other. The final section has the dancers bringing candles out on stage representing the light in the darkness.The music has lyrics stating “In the darkness please light my way”. I believe this is the message. It is so necessary and appreciated.
For a sense of being understood, seen, heard and definitely renewed, one must see Future Perfect at the Fringe Festival Fort Myers. Performances repeat on June 3 at 8:30 pm and June 4 at 4 pm. For tickets, call 239.939.2787.
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