Audiences step into the dance studio for 'Charette'

Imagine an evening of five competitive groups of dancers paired with five choreographing duos, and they are given only one hour to create an impressive performance piece.

Then imagine that each team is also assigned a “secret ingredient” that must be worked into that dance. Add in a set of judges, the greedy eyes of hundreds of audience members and an outrageous master of ceremonies, and you will have created Repertory Dance Theatre’s annual fundraising event, “Charette.”

On Saturday, the RDT performers mingled with 35 dancers from the community and local universities, and bravely took on this daunting task.

“The dancers are an important part of the artistic process,” Linda Smith, RDT’s artistic director, said. “Really it ends up being team work between the choreographers and the dancers. Some of it is set improvisation, some of it is exact choreography; it is an exciting challenge. People are amazed at what they can do under such extreme pressure in record time and come up with such amazing invention.”

Patterned after the popular Food Network series, "Iron Chef," RDT’s version of “Charette” took the stage for the first time seven years ago. It has now become not just a fundraiser but also a regular part of the RDT schedule.

“’Charette’ in the 21st century means a kind of a group-think process of creation or problem-solving,” said KUED television personality Ken Verdoia, who acted as the event’s emcee for the fifth year.

The panel of judges included Chris Vanocur, a local journalist and Peabody award winner; Margene Conde of Miss Margene’s creative classroom and her husband, Kevin Conde; dance studio owner Janet Gray; and choreographer Peter Christie.

For the first time, a spot on the judging panel was also auctioned to the audience. The bidding was heated, but a $250 donation finally landed the lucky winner in the judge’s seat.

The dancers were divided into five groups and distributed to choreographing twosomes along with a surprise secret ingredient. This year’s secret ingredients were things found in the basement of the theater, and included items like wings and capes, folding chairs, sticks and hoops, hoses and pillows. The teams were then banished to their “creative cauldrons” to build their dances.