A night of 'reverie'

The contemporary dance group BodyVox will be performing in the Spanos Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday night. The Portland-based group uses both film and dance to create an intense physical show that has impressed audiences all over the country.

BodyVox was formed by artistic directors Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland in 1997. Both have won an Emmy and they choreographed and performed together in the 1998 Academy Awards Show.

“BodyVox is a wonderful dance experience if this is your first time,” said Una Loughran, general manager for the group. “It is a very layered performance with the great ability of being able to enter it with or without prior experience.”

Artistic co-director Jamey Hampton also said that BodyVox is a great entry point for audiences new to dance.

“Our work is meant to be accessible and felt; we don’t try to confuse our audience and the pieces are well-focused,” Hampton said.

Hampton said that although the pieces are not spelled out for the audience, it is easy to tell what each is about and what reactions to have. He said that the films they use in their shows help audiences the most because people are so used to seeing things on screens that they feel comfortable immediately when they see them.

“Reverie,” the show BodyVox will be performing for Cal Poly audiences, is a show entirely built around a sense of beauty. Hampton said that the show, comprised of eight pieces and two films, is beautiful, comical and mysterious all at once.

“The work is not harsh; it is quite lush and has an intimate feeling to it,” Hampton said.

Hampton said that this intimate feel is created because the group of performers has been working together for a long time. Some have been around for nearly 10 years, and the close-knit nature of the group is easily felt by the audience, he said.

“One of the dynamic parts is the joy this group of artists takes from performing,” Loughran said.

Loughran said that the group is diverse and has a great deal of experience amongst its members. Members range in age from 30-52 years old, adding a unique and interesting aspect to the performances.

“The relationship the performers develop with the audience during the show is amazing,” Loughran said.

“BodyVox is very theatrical, imagistic and very physical,” Hampton said. “It is all stories told through images and there is no speaking on stage.”

Hampton stressed that although the performance can be downright funny at times, it is not satirical and the performance never makes fun of people.

He stressed that the overall experience for the actors is physically demanding in every way possible.

“We are really exhausted at the end of every show,” Hampton said.

The group travels an average of eight to 10 weeks a year, doing shows throughout the U.S. and other countries. Earlier this week, BodyVox performed in Chihuahua, Mexico in front of a crowd of 6,000 people. Before that they had most recently traveled to Washington and southern California, where they performed with the American String Quartet.

Before the performance, Moon Ja Minn Suhr from the Cal Poly dance department will be giving a 45-50 minute lecture, starting at 7 p.m.

Suhr said that in addition to discussing the group, she will also be addressing the roots of modern dance in her lecture. It’s hoped that these historical points will help the audience to gain more from the experience. She said that knowing the types of dance that came before and the people who created them helps add depth to the performance. Even the name of the group, which means “Voice of Body” has a point, Suhr said.

This will be the 20th lecture Suhr has given before a dance performance at Cal Poly, and in each she has strived to help audiences better understand dance and to learn something herself.

“There are a great deal of enthusiasts who come to the shows and I need to be prepared, because they trust you as a speaker,” Suhr said. “I try to make my lectures a live thing so they are interested.”

Suhr has been teaching dance at Cal Poly since 1969 and created 20 new courses to add to the catalog in the intervening years. She currently teaches classes such as dance appreciation, ballet, ballroom and dance in American musical theater.

Suhr said that in every piece BodyVox performs, they tell a story.

“Their dances are more realistic rather than abstract,” Suhr said.

She said that there are several pieces that BodyVox does that she would like to learn herself and said the performance will probably be a great show for audience members, whether they know dance or not.

“They describe themselves not just as dancers, but as show makers,” Suhr said.

To learn more about BodyVox, you can visit their website www.bodyvox.com, or look them up on YouTube, which has video of many of their performances.