Repertory Dance Theatre bringing its family-oriented 'Joyride II'

Repertory Dance Theatre so enjoyed performing its family program "Joyride" last year that artistic director Linda C. Smith wanted to do it again. That's why the upcoming concert is called "Joyride II."

However, Smith said, the performance isn't patronizing to children or adults. It's a nice family-oriented production that features the works of renowned choreographers Susan Hadley ("Blue Grass"), Tim Hadel ("Surprise Packages"), Andrea Miller ("Girl With Microphone") and Natosha Washington ("Nutrition").

"It isn't a show we built for kiddies but a show we built for the young person in all of us," Smith said during an interview with the Deseret News. "But imagination is the crux of the whole show. You don't have to have a big budget. You just have to have imagination."

"Joyride II" also features works created by RDT dancers Sarah Donohue, Aaron Wood, Chara Huckins-Malaret and Nicholas Cendese.

The four dancers spoke with the Deseret News about the upcoming production.

Donohue and Wood, who co-direct a pick-up dance company called My Turkey Sandwich, have teamed together for a work called "Sight Seeing," based on world travel.

"It involves a clothesline," Wood said. "We actually performed it two years ago with My Turkey Sandwich."

"The movement is basically jumping for four minutes with different hand gestures that represents sightseeing," Donohue said.

"It was an original idea we wanted to do with puppets," said Wood. "The idea morphed along the way."

"We wanted to bring to mind paper dolls with the clothes on the clothesline," Donohue said.

Donohue also choreographed a group piece called "Imagination" from an idea she had when she was a modern dance graduate student at the University of Utah. The piece involves plastic grocery bags and rhythm.

"My brother and I used to take the grocery bags and catch air in them and shake them and run around in the house," Donohue said. "And this work stemmed from that idea."

Huckins-Malaret's work "Teamwork" was performed in last year's "Joyride" as "Vignette."

"It's a duet/trio/quartet all based around partnering and working together to create community teamwork," she said. "I wanted it to be challenging for the dancers but fun for the audience to see. So it's a physically demanding work in a dancing sense."