‘Traffic at the Grace’ showcases VCU Dance’s talent

A brilliant white light shines down to expose figures moving through a thin fog. Warm orange light floods the stage from behind to reveal eight white-clad bodies eerily dancing, like ethereal other-worldly beings.

This is “Angle of Incidence,” the first piece in the second act of VCU Dance Department’s performance “Traffic at the Grace: Dancing in the Now” at the Grace Street Theater, which they performed last weekend.

The piece was choreographed by Assistant Professor Scott Putman, with the lighting designed by Adam Chamberlin. The piece was created at VCU’s 2005 summer study abroad in Costa Rica as an investigation of choreography and automated lighting technology.

Assistant professor James Frazier’s piece “Suspect Seven” was a dangerous frenzy of intensity, performed by seven powerfully energetic men. Guest artists Gerri Houlihan and Robert Battle also supplied the performances with two solid pieces.

Houlihan’s “Throb” was a sumptuous excursion into a sparse world of two bodies sharing weight with fearless energy.

Battle’s “Virginia Reel” found 18 dancers onstage with live drummers, in a powerful and angular Native American warrior dance.

VCU Dance Department seniors Laura McMillan and Paige Horton’s pieces “Anticipating the Middle” and “Moondance” displayed an amazing use of the spine and grounding. Both pieces were dark, introspective and earthy.

“I thought it was a very solid concert,” Dance Department alumnus Rachael Shaw said. “All the pieces flowed together well,” junior dance major Laura Stepp said.

Junior dance majors Victoria Metz and Courtney Cooke displayed their own new works this weekend, “Of A Round World,” and “Distance in Lines.”

Metz’s piece was danced to the spoken word of the Allen Ginsberg poem “Transcription of Organ Music.” The piece had a retro feel to it, and explored relationships while playing beautifully with speed changes.

Cooke’s piece was a refreshingly quirky and lighthearted gem among the evening’s otherwise serious and intense pieces. The piece was a playful abstraction of the monotony of office work. Folding chairs were brilliantly employed to bring in different levels.