REVIEW: Capitol Movement Goes Out With a Bang

Capitol Movement Reimagined: A Tribute Show
Capitol Movement, Inc.
Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival
Washington, D.C.
February 28, 2020

By Valerie Oliphant

Capitol Movement Reimagined: A Tribute Show exploded with energy, performing 19 pieces in 90 minutes. Nineteen! Friday night’s sold-out performance at the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival was a bittersweet celebration of 15 years in the DMV and the companies’ last full concert season. Capitol Movement was founded by Amber Yancey and Stephanie Jokokian to overcome socio-economic barriers to elite-level dance training. Jokokian is also the director of the Washington football team’s cheerleaders, who made several appearances in the show. The theater filled to the brim with an enthusiastic audience who shouted encouragement to their loved ones and clapped along.  

The dance equivalent of a short-story anthology, each piece had a different choreographer with their own style -- Afro-Caribbean, lyrical, hip-hop, Broadway jazz, contemporary ballet, and even cheerleaders-in-training. Pieces alternated between the Capital Movement Dance Company (CMDCo), Capitol Movement Pre-professional Company (Pre-Pro), CMI Kidz, the Redskins Cheerleaders Training Program, and the Rockin’ the Heels Dancers group. Song choices were as varied as Bette Middler, Lizzo, and Ed Sheeran.

The variety sometimes gave me whiplash. A group of adult women in lingerie and army print pants gyrated to “American Woman” with Carmen Electra-inspired moves. Directly after, six-year-olds bopped to Daddy Yankee. Next, a highly synchronized, jaunty contemporary piece with adults in bright-colors evoked the musical T.V. show “Glee.” The common thread was high energy. Every dancer was dancing their hearts out, no matter their age or skill level. 

“TBT,” choreographed by Sabina Henry and performed by CMDCo, was one of the best in the show. Six women in ’90s style hip-hop denim jeans and jackets and big hoop earrings rocked fierce attitudes and strong movements. Their energy was infectious as they competed in a twerk off, tongues sticking out, and sang along to the hip-hop mash-up of Chingy, Nicki Minaj, and Kanye West. They emitted a masculine energy as they grabbed their crotches then popped their knees while lifting their heels. 

Contemporary piece “Gravity” examined gun violence as school girls in purple polos and black skirts walked in straight lines around the stage while Toddrick Hall’s anti-gun anthem “Defying Gravity” urged: “Point your coward guns/Taking loved ones everyday/Something’s gotta change.” One dancer pulled another out of line and repeatedly shoved her to the ground. She was held back by the others, who lifted her while she kept trying to run, then cartwheeled over while they held her arms in place. 

The cheerleaders were fun, but tonally incongruent. It was odd that a group of women in daisy dukes and see-through white crop tops, clearly aimed at the male-gaze, opened with Diana Ross’s infectious “I’m Coming Out!” a song that has become an LGBTQ anthem. They went on to slap their own butts and wind their hips to lyrics like “this club so packed, these hoes so drunk,” maintaining perfectly plastered-on smiles. 

The crowd whooped as CMI Kidz, ages 5 to 13, brought back popular ’90s dance moves like the Kid-’n-Play kickstep, Salt-’n-Pepa’s push it, and the Milli Vanilli. Other highlights included an unfortunately uncredited but stunning soloist with amazingly clean pirouettes in a Broadway jazz number to Bette Midler’s “Stuff Like That There,” and an emotionally-charged lyrical performance to Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me.” 

For the finale, all of the dancers (minus the cheerleaders) erupted in a huge dance party, each showing off their best moves. Keeping a dance company and studio afloat is difficult, and it was with sadness that Capitol Movement announced this would be its final show. The organization will be closing its studios and moving to an “on-demand” structure of requested appearances and workshops rather than regular classes and performances. The technique and enthusiasm Capitol Movement imparted to their students was truly remarkable, and a loss for the D.C. dance community. 

Photos: top, by Tony Powell
bottom, by Diana Adams

REVIEW: Broadening Horizons With Gin Dance Company

By Valerie Oliphant

Unveil

Gin Dance Company
Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival
Washington, D.C.
February 22, 2020

Gin Dance Company’s Unveil, presented the first weekend of the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival, explored storytelling, perspective, and connection. Founder and artistic director Shu-Chen Cuff's background in ballet, modern, jazz, Chinese folk dance, and Chinese opera movements blend together to create Gin Dance Company’s unique East-meets-West style.

The premiere of “Breaking News” utilized the exaggerated storytelling techniques of Chinese opera movements to show the same story from multiple perspectives: four women involved in a shooting, a news anchor, and the two investigating police officers. The simple set, a park bench and a desk, allowed the dancers to create the environment through pantomime and dance. The anchor, danced by Cuff, began by plucking ideas out of the air, rearranging them, and fervently writing. Synthesizing her sources, she re-enacted the shooting, conveying a remarkable amount of information with only her hands and face.

The two policewomen embodied the Chinese opera movement principle of opposition, one moving her entire body all the way to the left in order to look to the right, the other rising all the way up on her tippy toes before crouching down to examine the ground, an enormous magnifying glass pressed to her eye. Chinese opera typically includes exaggerated pedestrian movements (there are 20 distinct beard movements alone) meant to communicate specific pieces of information to the audience. While there are more than 360 regional opera forms, they share the same three basic principles: balance, energy, and opposition and require a minimum of fifteen years of rigorous training.

Dancers Julia Hellmich, Na Dai, Courtney Lapenta, Elizabeth Watson, Hannah Church, Alison Grant, photo by Michele Egan

Between numbers, Cuff discussed her vision for the Rashomon-like piece: “You may think the story unfolds one way and the person next to you thinks it is completely different -- that’s the beauty of art. We are each telling our own story and each finding our own meaning.”

A contemporary ballet piece, “Infinity,” looked at spirituality and the afterlife. It featured delicate and flowing movements full of longing and reverence. Danced to Barber’s Adagio for Strings, seven dancers in nude leotards with floor-length gauzy grey ombre skirts floated between two sheer triangular pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling. Cuff’s choreography excels at finding stillness within movement, creating a sense of awe and peace.

It was easy to see why the final piece, “We, The Moon, The Sun,” was billed as a fan favorite. A bright full moon filled the projected background as Cuff rolled her arms like the tide and a lone flute played. The movements took on a martial arts quality as a war drum joined the flute. Fast, fluttery high kicks followed arms windmilling in a blur. Six dancers joined her for the second section, soldier-stepping as a unit. They advanced diagonally across the stage, while the sound of sticks slapping together reverberated through the auditorium. Arms flew up as they inhaled in unison, retreating backward. Intricate hand and facial gestures followed sweeping rond de jambes, legs circling the dancers’ bodies like a compass. While the dancers displayed excellent technique, it was impossible not to watch Cuff when she was on stage with them. Her years of experience show in each detail -- a shoulder that lingers a touch longer, a spin that whips just a little faster. Emotions infuse her gestures, creating a spell-binding effect.

In her famous TEDTalk “The Danger of a Single Story,” author Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi says, “When we show a people as only one thing, over and over again, that is what they become. The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.” GDC’s Unveil encouraged us to look at multiple perspectives, broadening our pool of stories and deepening our sense of community.

Photo: top, Shu-Chen Cuff, by Michelle Egan. Both photos courtesy Gin Dance Company