REVIEW: A Performance 'With Love'

TU Dance gave a premiere performance at St. Paul’s Ordway Center for the Performing Arts inspired by an artist’s expressive works.

Image credit: Ingrid Werthmann

Recommended by the Editor

A New Role for Dance

Third Annual Keeper Awards

By: Jennifer Mitchell

TU Dance, directed by Uri Sands and Toni Pierce-Sands, premiered a new dance performance May 7 to a full house at the Ordway. It’s uncommon for a dance performance to sell out such a large theater—and with such an enthusiastic audience. It was the world premiere of With Love, choreographed by Sands and inspired by the paintings of African American artist Ernie Barnes (1938-2009), who retired from pro football to focus on art. Barnes was known for the figures in his paintings and the movement they portrayed. Accompanied by the music of American soul musician Donny Hathaway, the performance strikingly executed the aesthetic of the artist’s paintings.

With Love, performed by TU Dance accompanied by dancers from the University of Minnesota and the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, included eight short performances; each shared the title of one of Barnes’s paintings projected on a screen, allowing the audience to compare still images with dance portrayals. The modern and athletic style of the dancers matched the urban themes and figures in the paintings. The long lean lines of the dancers’ bodies imitated the elongated figures Barnes is known for depicting. Accented by the Hathaway’s soulful music, each painting was brought to life evoking the emotion of the colors, the figures and the story on canvas.

The series began with a vivid image of “The Maestro” illustrated by dancer Yusha Marie Sorzano, who captured the strong posture of the maestro with rigid but graceful movements. “Ring Around the Rosie” suggested playful movements and the juvenile emotions that surface when the sexes interact. Sands and Pierce-Sands gave an elegant and intimate duet via “In The Moment,” where they appeared to be floating above the stage. The final piece in the series, “The Graduate”, performed by the company with guest Alanna Morris, evoked the happiness and accomplishment that everyone can relate to on graduation day.

The subtle staging and uncomplicated costuming only helped to accentuate the athleticism and versatility of the dancers in these beautiful performances. The night’s event also included four dances from TU Dance’s repertoire, beautifully integrated in the beginning of the night, ranging from the lyrical “For You”, to the playful “High Heel Blues,” the vibrant “Workforce,” and finishing with Pierce-Sands’s expressive solo “Clear As Tear Water.” TU Dance gave the audience an incredible ride with their standout dancing; we hope their work will continue to flourish with the opening of Sands’ and Pierce-Sands’ dance studio on University Ave in St. Paul.