News: Encore: A Backstage Dance Musical
Daniel Gwirtzman gives audiences a dose of reality
In October, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company presented a modern concert dance piece ENCORE: A Backstage Dance Musical at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center in NYC as part of the New York Musical Theatre festival. Sixteen dancers took the stage as a Broadway troupe preparing to take a show on the road, with Gwirtzman, himself, playing the demanding choreographer constantly giving cues from the sidelines.
With natural dialogue and meticulous detail, Gwirtzman showed the inside process of making art (and the headaches that come with it). From the dancers watching movements in the mirror to the choreographer growing frustrated while trying to create on the spot, Gwirtzman says it took many in-depth company discussions to achieve realistic scenes and create characters that weren't over-theatrical caricatures of themselves.
"It's about honoring dancers and understanding how they work on a daily basis," says Gwirtzman. "ENCORE shows that as much as a dancer performs, it's a small percentage of the time compared to what's spent working in the studio. There really are no shortcuts for that work. It's not easy, it's not fun and it can be lonely. But with the popularity of dance reality shows today, people are starting to appreciate that sense of process."
For more: www.gwirtzmandance.org
-Courtney Rae Allen
Daniel Gwirtzman (center) and company in ENCORE; Photo by James Washburn, courtesy of Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company
