Baltimore Dance Project's 30th Anniversary Performances at UMBC

Baltimore Dance Project celebrates 30 years of dance this weekend, and shows us with vibrant and stunning complexity, that time is, indeed, on their side. Whether the dancers leap alongside video of dancers from the 1950’s, or land to the echo of their own voice, the overwhelming acknowledgement of, and interactions with fleeting temporal instants make the audience want to hang on to every intangible moment.

These interactions choreographed by Co-Directors Carol Hess and Doug Hamby, sometimes narrativized, sensual or haunting, all bring about a multilayered experience that demonstrates the power dance has to pull the audience deep into the moments acted on stage. One dancer connects intimately with a rope in his movements across the stage, delicately balancing it atop the points and lines of his poses, another entangles her turns and falls into the arms of her partner with whom she dances with in playful, seductive movements. The levels of interactions deepen with principle dancer, Sandra Lacy, as her movements and words filled with strength and fluidity invite the audience into her world of “human oddities” while dancing with 50 white balloons. And deepen again, as performers turn and leap in front of video of themselves, mirrored infinitely in the screens that hold their images.

The multilayered performances also bring together UMBC faculty, students and alumni. The UMBC percussion ensemble, lead by Department of Music’s Tom Goldstein, plays John Cage for alumnus Angel Chinn ’08, and the work of Timothy Nohe, of Visual Arts, is present as well. Additionally, Department of Theatre’s Wendy Salkind assisted co-director, Doug Hamby interpret the lines of Gertrude Stein’s “If I Told Him: A complete Portrait of Picasso” for a powerful performance by UMBC student, Jeffrey Mensah.

Baltimore Dance Project performs again tonight and tomorrow evening, at 8 pm on both nights at UMBC’s Performing Arts and Humanities Building Theatre. Admission to this event is $20 general admission, $10 for students and seniors, and $7 for all UMBC students. Learn more about the program, including guest performers and premieres, at  UMBC’s Arts and Culture Calendar.