RDT provides a spirited look at our place in the environment

"ELEMENTS," Repertory Dance Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, Sept. 30; additional performances through Oct. 3 (801-355-2787)

With the drastic change in weather that stormed the Wasatch Front this week, it seemed fitting the Repertory Dance Theatre would open it's 2009-10 season with "Elements."

The production, comprised of four works and a string of "movement essays," is RDT's way of getting in touch with the environment.

Opening with Paul Sanasardo's turbulent 1969 work "Earth," the program immediately sets the scene and gets the subconscious working on ecological issues.

Feeding those issues is Ze'eva Cohen's "Rainwood." The balance of the smooth liquid-like center formation and the breakaway choppy, animal-esque segments are enhanced by projected artwork and a soundscape that consists of wetlands recordings.

Mary Francie Lloyd's "Lady of the Lake" is an eye-opener. The duet between RDT's M. Coleen Hoelscher and a clear tub of water is a crowd favorite, as the dancer slides gracefully on the saturated floor or when the water is splashed from the tub in crystal arcs.

Choreographer Zvi Gotheiner collaborated with RDT and created a series of "movement essays" that are inspired by icons of the international Green Map system.

Some of the icons interpreted through dance included "Solar Energy," "Mining," "Wind Power" and "Recycling."

These "essays," eventually, will be expanded in the next couple of years to create an evening-length production in 2011.

Closing the production is Eric Handman's "Ghost Ship." The dancers, while being rained upon by 120 pounds of rice, move smoothly and hauntingly. The rag-tag costumes bring to mind a marooned ship's crew.

"Elements" is another step for the Repertory Dance Theatre to convey its ongoing theme of "Sense of Place."

Artistic director Linda C. Smith said if we as human beings don't take care of our environment, "we lose our sense of place."

e-mail: scott@desnews.com