FRI, 8/26
AIResTANGO takes dance to a new level.
Related Content
More About
The idea for AIResTANGO materialized over a cup of morning coffee three or so years ago, says Boulder aerial dancer Cathy Gauch. While she and her friend, tango whiz Deb Sclar, sipped and discussed their creative lives, the notion of mixing their respective genres suddenly seemed obvious to them, as if it had always been there. With Sclar's husband and tango partner, Brian Dunn, they created a dance-fusion performance that's ever-changing, whether slinking hip to hip across the floor or flying through the air with the greatest of ease.
Tango purists, Gauch notes, might turn up their noses at such a synthesis, but as Dunn points out, the very passionate quality of tango music sweeps it all up almost effortlessly, engulfing the necessarily separate spheres of two genres. "Aerialists often dance solo, while in tango, of course, it takes two," Dunn says; the real challenge in pulling it together is in finding a place in which the dance styles can meet. In one number, Gauch swings in and out of Dunn's earthbound space, and in another, two dancers tango, with humorous results, on stilts. In yet another hot, hot number, tango takes all, as Sclar and Dunn do the torrid tangle while singing to one another in operatic harmony. And that's just a taste.
See how it's done, and have your breath taken away in the process, at performances this weekend at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder, or on September 2 and 3 in Denver, at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre, 119 Park Avenue West; for information and tickets, $18 to $30, call 303-440-7826 or visit www.thedairy.org. -- Susan Froyd
Surf's Up
Brian Wilson returns with a full SMiLE.
FRI, 8/26
During the Beach Boys' mid-'60s heyday, leader Brian Wilson -- who was rapidly losing his mind to the ravages of drugs and fame -- built a giant sandbox in the middle of his living room. And then he put his piano in it.
Talk about buying into your own image.
Forty years and a little deuce coupe full of meds later, Wilson finally completed his abandoned masterpiece, SMiLE -- and is milking it for all it's worth. As well he should: The album, which came out last year after months in the studio with longtime collaborator Van Dyke Parks, delivered on all the promise shown by its original (and much bootlegged) recording sessions, which were butchered and then released in 1967 as Smiley Smile. Wilson is currently touring with a seventeen-piece orchestra that brilliantly brings to life his symphonic, surf-soaked psychedelia. The beach party goes down tonight at 7:30 at the Universal Lending Pavilion at the Pepsi Center. Tickets range from $40 to $200; call 303-455-1111 or visit www.ticketmaster.com. Pail and shovel are optional. -- Jason Heller
