Laura Karlin founded Invertigo Dance Theatre in 2007 and built it into one of Los Angeles’ major dance companies. The company celebrated its 10th Anniversary at the Moss Theatre in Santa Monica with a section from the first work she created for Invertigo, Interior Design; excerpts from her latest work Formulae and Fairy Tales; and performances by members of Invertigo’s Dancing Through Parkinson’s Program and the Invert/Ed Education Program. The evening included a reception prior to the performance and a get together for a celebratory toast afterwards.
Sofia Klass is a senior member of Invertigo Dance Theatre and the Director of the Dancing Through Parkinson’s Program that includes seven locations throughout Los Angeles. Klass and Rachel Whiting choreographed a beautiful and moving showcase for members and staff of this invaluable program that helps people with Parkinson’s connect with their bodies, their minds, the space around them and with other people. Dressed in black and making use of black chairs, Klass and Whiting led the dancers through a wonderful series of duets performed in unison. The movements involved slow and fast gestures which were repeated after the couples changed who was seated and who was standing. The highlight was the entire group dancing to ONE by Marvin Hamlisch, the finale song from the musical A Chorus Line. The cast, who appeared to be having a wonderful time performing onstage, included Diane Goon, Jack Gregory, Elizabeth Harris, Juanita Jepson, Bruce Kobritz Jill Kobritz, Jeanie McNamara, Shirley Reynolds, Francine Ringold, Adriane Sachs, Shu Sakimoto, Lois Sattler and Mark Siegel.
Interior Design was the first work that Karlin choreographed on her company in 2007. Jonathan Bryant and Hyosun Choi performed a section of the re-work of this humorous, poignant and moving piece. A young couple moves into a new apartment and set about unpacking and arranging the furniture. Bryant and Choi are both beautiful performers who move through Karlin’s very athletic and intricate partnering with great ease and finesse. Bryant shows a flair for comedy and Choi’s portrayal of a woman griefing as she remembers the child she lost by miscarriage is heart wrenching. Another highpoint is the duet between Bryant and Choi wearing cardboard boxes as shoes and making comedic references to ballet. It was great fun for any dance enthusiast. The wonderful, and original, music is composed by Eric Mason, with voicework by Eric Mason and Kate Jopson.
Invertigo has always had the Invert/Ed Education Program and has been partnering with the Hope Street Family Center since 2014. Directed by the vivacious and lovely Sadie Yarrington, the program partners with many schools and community organizations, teaching LA’s youth dance, body awareness and helping them discover their own self-worth. Yarrington choreographed a fun and energetic showcase for approximately 15 young people of varying ages, dancing to several theme songs from television and film. Teens performed routines to the theme song from Ghost Busters and younger dancers to the theme from the 1960s and 1970s show Mission Impossible. The fun continued as the entire cast performed to Henry Mancini’s The Pink Panther. It was a great opportunity for these young people who are all participants in the Hope Street Family Center program.
Karlin’s newest work, Formulae & Fairy Tales, was inspired by the life of 20th century genius Alan Turing (1912-1954). Turing was a computer scientist, mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, theoretical biologist, and it was his Enigma machine that helped break Germany’s coded messages during World War II. During this time, England had a law that made homosexuality illegal. Anyone caught performing same sex acts was either imprisoned or castrated. Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts and chose chemical castration rather than prison. He committed suicide in 1954 by eating an apple laced with cyanide. He was officially pardoned in 2009 by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and The Alan Turing law is now an informal term for a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardoned men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.
Turing is considered the father of artificial intelligence and the computer, and he developed what was called the Turing Test to distinguish whether someone was computer or human. Karlin has a section where an audience member is invited onstage to take part in this test. After a series of questions, it was determined that Judy was definitely human. Turing’s favorite film was Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Karlin makes this connection in the work. Since the Garden of Eden, the apple has been associated with evil, lust and forbidden love. It makes perfect sense that Turing used it for his demise, although there is some speculation that his death was accidental.
Invertigo Dance Theatre – Formulae & Fairy Tales – Photo by Joe Lambie
Formulae & Fairy Tales gets off to a rough start, but it soon gels into dramatic scenes with Karlin’s signature lifts, floorwork and intricate partnering. We see Turing totally immersed in his work as war rages around him. Karlin portrays him as an outsider who is not capable of joining in or as someone who is taunted with chants of “queen”, “witch” and “princess”. There is a brief solo performed powerfully by William Clayton depicting a tortured Turing, but the gem within the sections shown at this performance is the male love duet performed with great passion and conviction by Clayton and Adrian Hoffman. The two men perform most of the duet connected by one bright red apple in their mouths. Their biting into the apple evokes as much passionate as any Hollywood lovers’ kiss. The duet is sensual, erotic, but never lewd. The cast of Formulae & Fairy Tales includes Cody Brunelle-Potter, Hyosun Choi, William Clayton, Jessica Dunn, Adrian Hoffman and Shane Raiford. The beautiful music is by Julia Kent, Glenn Kotche, Afiara Quartet, and A Winged Victory.
Formulae & Fairy Tales is still very rough around the edges, but I look forward to seeing it once it has had time to mature and with all the production elements added. The press released spoke to a technicolor quality within the work, and it will be interesting to see how Karlin’s production team brings that into being.
Congratulations to Laura Karlin, the gorgeous dancers, the production staff and everyone else connected with Invertigo Dance Theatre for reaching 10 years.
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