Concert Critique on “Lion King” presented by Dance Makers Studio
The dance performance “Lion King” was shown at Covey Center on June, 4. I was sitting in the first row. The first song I heard was “The Lioness Hunt”. It sounded like African folk music. The audience took their sits, it became very noisy. While the show didn’t start I decided to take a look around me.
The audience consisted of parents and families. From the brochure I could tell the dancers were teenagers and younger.
The stage had a black background, four toy lions and two toy giraffes, dozens of balloons. The music developed more and more tension and finally the lights were turned down.
Later few lights were turned back on. The director of the dance studio came on the stage. She gave a long speech, thanking everybody for help. It appeared to be her last performance. Felt like it was a family party or sacrament meeting where the director shared her “testimony”. Her speech wasn’t professional and in the end she started crying. When the teachers came on the stage it was hard not to notice that they were very young. Somebody gave the prayer and the show began.
The story began in Pride Rock, the land where King Mufasa and his wife, Sarabi, reign. Their son, samba was born and raised to be future king. Few girls appeared on the front stage, and then more dancers joined the others. The costumes were very shiny and colorful. In the first dance piece “Circle of Life” the costumes were like a rainbow, of all colors. Little dancers moved from background to the center. All the dancers were from five years old to seventeen. They were sliding, leaping, a lot of por de bra and shasse. They used all the basic ballet moves and mixed it with modern dance. Their hands moved from fifth position of the arms to the second and back to the fifth. Two girls did splits in the air; it looked very beautiful s if they were trying to fly away. The background kept changing from black to green and to red and to pink and later it turned all blue. The chicken dance shown by the little dancers made the audience laugh. It looked adorable, even though it wasn’t synchronized. The older girls showed their gymnastic skills doing the wheel and splits. Three dance pieces “Lioness Hunt”, “Celebration in the Pride Lands” and “Night bird” were so short that I’d rather put them together. One part of dancers was wearing jazz shoes, others pointes, few were bear foot. Those who were performing tap dance had matching shoes. “Just can’t wait to be King” was a beautiful dance where the old Lion King teaches little Simba to be more patient and shows him how to survive on this land. This is where we first saw modern dance moves, where the dancer would bend and reach the floor with her arms; she suddenly would jump in this position throwing her legs pretty high. This is where the hands were loose, it wasn’t ballet anymore. Later girls in long flamenco dresses joined the whole group. They had red flowers in their hair. They moved their hips very smoothly. Some moves were reminding flamenco, they were sharp and the dancers had their hands in the fifth position flipping the fingers and stepping expressively. They also were crying something out. First dance piece reminded me of a salad, where you put all the veggies you have in the fridge. Most of the time the bigger the variety the better, but sometimes it’s too much. I was waiting for the next piece to make sure they didn’t mix too much. This dance was called “Animal Fair” which totally made sense.
“Diggatuna” was a dance of marching and tapping, that included clapping, crying the words out. It reminded me of military trainings. “Junggle Boogie” was totally a jazz dance where the girls were dancing with bended knees, throwing hands, flipping their fingers.
The “Party! Party! Party” looked like an acrobatic show where everybody showed their skills: making wheels, the “bridge” and standing on the shoulders. Some were dressed up as sailors; others were tapping to Hawaiian music. What a combo!
The audience loved adorable little kids who formed a train and looked like little chicken. The other dance piece was a musical dance, where the girls were tapping and sliding on the floor. They were dressed up in pink, smiling and shining like the stars of 30s.
“Sweet dreams” was one of my favorite. Absolutely modern dance with great long lines, nice splits and spinning, jumping up high and falling down on the floor. The moves were starting with either head spin or elbow; the bodies were in search of new way of self-expression. The music was pretty fast so the moves were pretty sharp and direct.
Dances like “I Like”, “Black Tambourine”, “They live in You”, “Be prepared”, “Graveyard” and “Massacre at the Gorge” were not longer than five minutes each; they included modern dance, ballet, and tap dance.
“Hakuna Matata” was a funny and joyful dance where all the dancers participated.
After fifteen minutes break we came back to our sits. This time Simba was in the jungle, where he learned the ways of Timon and Pumba, found a girlfriend and will win his land back.
The “Volcano” was performed by mothers and daughters. Each showed their talents. They were dancing different styles.
The next dances were performed mostly by main dancers of the crew. One of the best contemporary dances of this show was performed to the song “The sun will rise”. First of all the dancers were about eleven and they did a good job. Their golden dresses from 30s looked like sun beams.
When Simba came back to the land of his father the dance told us his emotions, his fear and how wins the land back. Splits and spins, jumping and falling, crawling on the floor – the battle wasn’t easy.
It was followed by the white dance of little ballerinas in white dresses. Their kicks were very high, and they threw their right legs back in the jump. They reminded of pigeons, who were flying in the sky. The last dance “Restoration” was performed by older dancers who appeared on the stage in long pink and grey dresses. It was a slow beautiful dance that reminded me of Isadora Duncan. The girls were dancing bear foot like Greek goddess, their dresses were like tunics. They danced in circle, changed the forms from circle to one line and back again. Their bodies were moving gently, their arms were like sea waves, slow and incredibly peaceful. The legs were changing the speed. Whenever they jumped either the right or the left leg was bended. This dance meant peace in the jungle again.
And finally on the background the audience heard the voice saying: “Remember who You are!”
