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Friday, April 22, 2011
Live Reviews / News Live review: Dancing on the Dark Side
Posted By Jeff Hahne on Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 2:40 PM
Dancing on the Dark Side
Neighborhood Theatre
April 21, 2011
What happens when a group of Charlotte musicians band together with a visual artist and a troupe of dancers to recreate one of the greatest classic rock albums of all time? One hell of a night.
All of this came together under the Dancing on the Dark Side moniker last night at the Neighborhood Theatre and I wish I knew everyone's name to compliment them directly.
When I heard this was going to happen, I thought, "Great idea. But can they pull it off?" The answer is a definitive "hell, yes and with stunning accumen and ability."
Let's start with the music which was spot on, tight as can be and powerful as needed. Singer Shana Blake shined on "The Great Gig in the Sky." Singer Gabe Britton also offered a rock-solid vocal performance of his own through most of the night. Music director and drummer Eric Mullis did a fine job coordinating with musicians from Actual Proof, Chasing Edison, Automatic Chi and Incognito Mosquito.
With the musicians off to the left side of the stage, the backdrop was a sea of visuals created by Mike Wirth Art that transfixed the audience with seas of colors, and images — from the sublime to the frantic.
And then there were the dancers filling the space in between — visual artists using their bodies as the canvas to portray the words being sung and the notes being struck. It was choreographed by Mineko Shannon and danced by Melissa Word, Nathalie Anne, Nia Galas, Caitlyn Swett, Blakeney Bullock and Colton Southworth. It's no wonder that they received regular standing ovations — whether flying solo or dancing as a group, using hoops or simple expressions to get the points across.
This was an event that exuded the word multi-media and has the audience transfixed. A thunderous round of applause broke out at the end and I'm sure many were wishing Pink Floyd had recorded a double-CD instead in order to make it last that much longer. There was no encore needed, the performance itself was one fantastic display that stood from start to finish.
Let's just hope this wasn't a one-off and that they will either present it again or, perhaps, tackle another album.
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