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Seattlest Pix 09Nov25
Can't Miss It: Thanksgiving Eve
Last weekend marked the halfway point of Spectrum Dance Theater’s Byrd Retrospective Festival - three weekends, nine shows, 16 works. The festival is an earnest reflection on the influence of Artistic Director and choreographer Donald Byrd, who has rapidly raised Spectrum’s status as a serious contemporary dance company since inheriting its direction in 2002.
Spectrum is housed in the Madrona Dance Studio on the shores of Lake Washington. It is reminiscent of a Girl Scout cabin. It is beautiful, and one walks up creaky wooden stairs to an almost uncomfortably intimate room. The atmosphere is cheery though, with chatty festival-goers crowding out the limited seating, and necessitating the dragging out of blue gym mats for the seat-less patrons; an appropriately candid gesture by a company whose mission is “to make dance accessible, without limitations, to the community.” Byrd himself takes a few moments to reinforce his statement and purpose for the festival, and the program begins.
It’s quickly evident that the small space invites a critical closeness from the audience, not unheard of for a dance show but interesting with this level of skill. Every element of the dancers’ execution is available for scrutiny, but most visible is the solidity of their artistic range. Byrd is not gentle to his dancers - during Friday night’s Giselle spin-off piece it seemed as though the Wilis instead were dancing themselves to death - and his movement, while structured and sexy, requires frequent bouts of frenzied energy. But Byrd has coached his dancers well; their collective power is sure and sound and a pleasure to watch, really. All involved are certainly not swayed by the spectators sitting a few feet away.
As Byrd mentions pre-performance and afterwards at a brief Q&A, this particular Studio Series is a chance to present the way the company has grown into its current aesthetic, and then say, “OK, now what?” It’s an exercise in retrospection (hey, the festival name!) and bringing things to a forward-thinking level. What’s next for Spectrum? Likely, a consistent stream of new work. Meanwhile, the direction of the company can be summed up by Byrd’s ultimate philosophy: “I’m just interested in people dancing beautifully.”
Tickets still available for the final week of the festival, October 23, 24, 25 // Madrona Dance Studio, 800 Lake Washington Blvd. // times vary // $15
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