A display from the first GBDAC
Karen and
Jeanna
Jeanna Driver - Photo by Le Vieux Loup Photography
K for K Drums, which is on the Kollection for Karen
CD, included a quick flash of the via video students, then
the studio students joining them onstage. At one point, the
overhead screen showed a video dancer practicing K for K
in a dance studio where everyone else was practicing their
Western Swing. On the final “airplane arms” pose, the on-
screen Western Swing people struck the same pose!
And who on EARTH was the old fat chick in the red
& gold Khaleegy dress? Oh – that’s me! Well, I did threaten
everyone the year before that I just “might” show up one
more time on-stage: So there; I DID it! A Khaleegy with
lots of flinging hair (which I have a great deal of ); it must’ve
been the shortest choreography on record. It was something
Karen created wayyy back in 1997!
Ma’ool was a nice medium-paced routine choreographed
by Sara Jouett Martinez. I really enjoyed this routine: she
included a reverse camel while the arms rose in front of
the chest in accent to the undulation. They also executed a
standing backbend with a scoop of the arms overhead and
around, followed soon by a head drop forward, flinging the
hair overhead. Good stuff.
Virtue is a piece of music by Jesse Cook, a Canadian
guitarist whose work includes nuevo flamenco, jazz, and
many other forms of world music. On-screen, the dancers
performed the number on the Hays Street Bridge, which
was built in 1910. I asked Karen about this number as it is
very unlike her usual style o