With three distinct programs scheduled round-robin style over a two-week period, Odyssey Dance Theatre’s spring extravaganza is suitably titled Shut-Up & Dance.
Starting out the fun is a return from last year’s repertoire, Giselle. As is typical with ODT, its version of this ballet classic takes something tried and true and puts it through artistic director Darryl Yeager’s contemporizing blender. The result is a romp that tells of a mega-movie star falling hopelessly in love with a plain-and-simple coffee-house waitress, who in turn protects him from evil spirits, called Wilis—in this instance a bunch of vampires.
The second program on the bill is again culled from one of ODT’s prominent works, Let It Be. Excerpts from the full-length piece, inspired by and performed to Beatles music, are set next to three shorter works that include two world premiers—Here … Now and Joplin Variations.
Rounding out the dance smorgasbord will be yet another updated classic, a hip-hop version of one of the Bard’s most eternal tragedies, Romeo & Juliet (pictured). This full-length world premiere—choreographed by a who’s-who list of ODT alum, including Eldon Johnson, Yeager and the Dilellos from So You Think You Can Dance—will include some vital audience participation.
You can attend Shut-Up & Dance and still text at the same time. Audiences will be encouraged to vote on whether Romeo and Juliet should die their immortal death, or live free to dance on and grow old gracefully.
Odyssey Dance Theatre’s Shut-Up & Dance @ Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah, 1395 E. Presidents Circle, 801-581-7100, March 18-27. OdysseyDance.com, KingTix.com