Freaks With Lines at ARC Pasadena: A Review

Freaks With Lines was founded by Artistic Director, Executive Producer and Choreographer Susan Vishmid in 2017 along with her dancing partner Adam Bloodgood. On Saturday, October 1, 2022, the company presented its Fall Gala Event and fundraiser at A Room To Create (ARC) in Pasadena, featuring primarily excerpts from works by Vishmid and Sadie Black, who also performed in the concert. While the dancers are highly skilled, I left truly confused why the company is called Freaks With Lines. It was only the last piece on the program, an excerpt from an award winning dance film Nilus Cogus, that remotely appeared to stretch the boundaries of ballet. The person who was most entertaining and hinted at being freakish, was the beautiful and extremely humorous Emcee Ariana Lallone. Lallone retired from Pacific Northwest Ballet in June 2011, following a long, successful career mostly as a principal dancer and took on a second career with San Francisco’s Teatro ZinZanni.

Vishmid, who began training at the Westside School of Ballet has danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet, Santa Fe Opera, San Diego Opera, Chicago Festival Ballet, Napoles Ballet Theater, California Contemporary Ballet, City of Angels Ballet and others. The choreographers that Vishmid has worked with include Kenneth von Heidecke, Nicola Bowie, Jodi Melnick and Kitty McNamee in Samson & Delilah, Aida, A Masked Ball, Romeo & Juliette, Capriccio and La Traviata respectively.

I hesitate to review excerpts of works especially when they are shown at a gala event, but in an effort to be supportive of this company and the dance community in general, I will proceed.

Vishmid opened the program with the World Premiere of her work titled Red Room followed by Night & Day created by Sadie Black. After a 20 minute intermission where the audience was encouraged by Lallone to have some wine and to spend money, the program continued with Vishmid’s Puzzling Affection, the 1st movement of Together Unseen, and closing with an excerpt from Nilus Cogus choreographed by both Vishmid and Black.

Freaks With Lines – (L-R) Michael Hill, Susan Vishmid, Ottavio Taddei in Vishmid”s “Red Room” – Photo by Skye Schmidt

Set to music by Cornine, Red Room featured dancers Sadie Black, Leah McCall, Sofia Rochin, and Vishmid costumed in red & gold bar hall bodices, with feathered tiaras. Michael Hill and Ottavio Taddel came across as suitors dressed in black street clothes. There was a lot of “sexy” and suggestive posturing and partnering between both same and opposite sexes. Everyone performed quite well except for Taddel who was always a beat behind everyone else and came across as not knowing the choreography. While very well constructed, Red Room felt it was Act I of a longer work. In its present form it offered nothing new to ballet.

Freaks With Lines – Sofia Rochin and David Prottas in Night & Day by Sadie Black – Photo by Skye Schmidt

Black’s Night & Day was the love story ballet we have seen ad infinitum. Again, the work was beautifully made and wonderfully performed by Sofia Rochin and David Prottas to music by Cole Porter but perhaps Black could take a venture out of her comfort zone and spice up this relationship.

Freaks With Lines – (L-R) Susan Vishmid and Michael Hill in Vishmid’s “Puzzling Affection” – Photo by Skye Schmidt

Puzzling Affection by Vishmid was a boy sees girls, boy chases girl, boy gets rejected by girl. But there was a twist to this charming work where who is chasing whom becomes confusing, hence the title. Performed to Erik Satie’s Je Te Veux, Susan Vishmid and Michael Hill excelled in this dance. I will leave up to you to see the dance to find out whether or not there is a happy ending to this tale.

Freaks With Lines – Sadie Black in “Together Unseen” – 1st Movement choreography by Susan Vishmid – Photo by Skye Schmidt

The 1st movement to Together Unseen, choreographed by Vishmid is a lovely duet for Sadie Black and the beautiful Leah McCall whose dancing in this piece was a highlight for me. The relationship between the two women is not clear within the excerpt, but it is a wonderful teaser to see more.

Freaks With Lines – Michael Hill and Susan Vishmid in “Nilus Cogus” choreography by Sadie Black and Susan Vismid – Photo by Skye Schmidt

The evening closed with Black and Vishmid’s Nilus Cogus which opened with a brief monologue by Jacqueline Valmont. It is a group work and the movement is often robotic, and the atmosphere – along with the black and white costumes and make-up, caused me to sense that these people were products of a future society. I found and watched the film and felt even stronger that I was on the right track. This piece does begin to push the boundaries of ballet, but again, does not go far enough. To live up to its name, Freaks With Lines needs to crash through the ballet ceiling and take flight.

ARC can be a difficult venue to perform in if a dancer is unused to performing two feet away from the audience. Throughout the program, several of the performers never lost that sense of fear. It showed in their faces and in their bodies. This is not a criticism, but an area this group needs to work on if they are planning on performing in smaller venues.

The only stage crew credits listed in the program were Production Assistants Michelle Lebowski, Adam Bloodgood and Jacqueline Valmont.

To learn more about Freaks With Lines, please visit their website.