Alchemy review

Last night I stepped into the alternate universe of tribal fusion dance at a show called Alchemy, produced by the Koreshaki Dance Troupe and directed by Nicole Richardson. It’s not my usual sort of thing, but because my friend A’isha Azar was dancing, I went.

It was wild. I was dressed in all black with an eyebrow ring, but I was a couple of piercings short and a pint of tattoo ink shy of blending in. Not to mention sporting 30 years too many. But it didn’t bother me, and the goth kids didn’t seem to mind, either. Love of dance — and black eyeliner — is universal.

There wasn’t a stage to speak of — it was more of an arena with raised seating on 3 sides of a performance area. When I walked in the air was thick with stage smoke, enough to stir up my asthma, but it dissipated by intermission. While waiting for the show to begin I read through the playbill for the basic plot which would tie the dances together and tried to make sense of it. In my opinion, this cliched storyline and stilted dialogue was the weak part of the production, and worsened by the fact that it was all prerecorded, leaving the actors/dancers to pantomime. Ah, but there was dancing, the reason I came.

There were Tribal fusion dancers, an Egyptian bellydancer, American bellydancers, a pole dancer (yes, really), hip hop, street and break dancers, and a ballerina. There was a mesmerizing sword dance. There was a magician juggling light. And there was a live band: Kama Shavaya was excellent, and one of the highlights of the show.

The tribal dancers surprised me with their strength and skill, and their complete commitment to their art. I’ll admit being biased against the style, having studied Egyptian myself, but their youthful enthusiasm was contagious. I particularly admired the floor work, a young woman’s game, something I have always lacked the strength and flexibility to excel in. The veil work of the American style dancer was nicely done, and the emotional highlight, in my admittedly biased opinion, was A’isha doing Egyptian as the wise woman.

All in all it was a fun evening, more so that I had anticipated. Should I hear of another performance in a convenient location, I won’t hesitate to go. Well done, ladies!

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