GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE February 7, 2003

eveningsout

The DanceWorks series will move the soul

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-There is little in this world more romantic than dancing. Evocative, emotive, often erotic, a dance can speak volumes without a single audible word.

Two people can illustrate their closeness or distance while waltzing; their body language doing the talking for them. A single person swaying to music can display an unbelievable amount of contentment, or her motions might bespeak a longing so profound it actually hurts.

Dancing is also a major creative outlet for gay men, whether in a club to the strains of the latest Top 40 remix or on stage in The Nutcracker. The stereotype of the classically-trained gay male dancer is one that is deeply ingrained in society's collective un-

conscious.

"I think it's a 60-40 split, 60% are gay," said Hernando Cortez, the new artistic director for the Cleveland Repertory Project, one of four dance companies taking part in DanceWorks 2003 at Cleveland Public Theatre.

"It requires a sensitivity to the dance," he continued. "I don't necessarily think it goes hand in hand."

"Most men in the dance world are automatically stereotyped as gay," said Jason Joyner, a dancer with Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre, another troupe participating in Dance Works.

"In my experience the majority of male dancers I have met have been, but not all," he admitted.

Dance appeals to gay men as an audience, as well as participants. The view of gay men as aesthetes would seem to indicate a love of the voyeuristic aspects of the dance, watching lithe, supple bodies pushed to the edge of

their endurance in a gymnastic display baring the dancers' very souls.

"The most wonderful attribute that dance provides for me is the freedom of expression to the fullest extent," Joyner said. "I can be who I am, when I am, where I am and give no excuses. When I perform, I give myself to the audience. Sometimes my gayness comes through and sometimes it doesn't."

Cortez echoed his sentiment. "It appeals as a way to express oneself, be athletic. It's a way to strut one's muscles. Ballet is about virtuosity and modern dance is about expressivity."

"For the audience, dance is a visual art form," he noted. "For myself, I enjoy seeing beautiful bodies on stage, even female bodies."

Cortez also points to the work dancers often do for social issues. He is a founding director of Dancers Responding to AIDS, a division of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, an entertainment industry organization that raises funds for AIDS research and services.

"It was mostly gay men who came forward to help the friends who were dying," he remembers. "There were also a lot of

women.

Michael Medcalf, executive and artistic director for Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre, and Cortez are both presenting their own choreography. As Cortez notes, a choreographer's own personality shines through in their dances.

The Man and the Echo, a piece based on William Butler Yeats' poem and set to music by Edvard Grieg, is a moving tale of loss.

"The Yeats poem speaks of mortality, speaks of being alone," Cortez said. "It also, speaks of resurrection and redemption. Mark Tomasik is a man who's journeying to the

next plain. He's a terrific soul who yearns for the next world."

"Without being specific, the piece is poetic about the disease of AIDS," he concluded.

Two Hours that Shook the World, his reflection on the events of September 11, 2001, also deals with issues of loss, and the 9/11 attacks continue to affect the LGBT community that lost loved ones and struggles for victims' compensation.

Medcalf's Brasilliance features Duke Ellington's Latin American Suite, newly choreographed. For those who have seen any of Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre's previous works, it promises to be

innovative, lyri-

cal and, above all, truly entrancing.

Cleveland Repertory Project's Planet Soup, The Man and the Echo and Two Hours that Shook the World will be performed Feb. 6-9 at Cleveland Public Theatre's Gordon Square Theater. The Feb. 6 performance is a benefit for the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

Cleveland Contemporary Dance Theatre's Brasilliance, a Tribute to Duke Ellington will be performed Feb. 14 to 16, and the DanceWorks series ends with GroundWorks Dance Theatre from Feb. 28 to March 2.

For more information or to buy tickets, call Cleveland Public Theatre at 216-6312727, or log onto www.cptonline.org.

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