West Bloomfield

Dance troupes leap into Berman

By Eric Czarnik
C & G Staff Writer

WEST BLOOMFIELD — Dance Month may have already begun at the Jewish Community Center’s Berman Center for the Performing Arts, but it’s not too late to step into the action.

Laurie Eisenhower, artistic director of the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble, said her dancers will perform several different presentations on the Berman stage. The ensemble will take the lead during its New DANCEfest X Feb. 11.

Eisenhower said her ensemble has worked at the Jewish Community Center in the past and was excited to learn that the JCC was building a new theater, which opened last year.

“We hope to get a new audience,” she said. “I think it’s a program that has something for everybody in it, so I think it will be enjoyable.”

Eisenhower said one of her own choreographed works, “Image,” will fuse dance with video projection to juxtapose beauty and reality. She also choreographed “Love, Love, Love,” a statement about the fleeting nature of love between people.

“That’s the whole art of choreography,” Eisenhower said. “We try to distill the gestures and distill the relationship to give the event through movement rather than words.”

New DANCEfest X will also present Michigan choreographer Steven Iannacone’s revival of “Bolero,” which reinterprets the classical music of Maurice Ravel.

Another ensemble work, “Dance Sport,” is a comedic piece created by an Olympic choreographer and narrated like a sporting event, Eisenhower said.

The rest of Dance Month will feature additional troupes at the Berman.

“Michigan Five: University Showcase” will show off five of the state’s university dance programs at 8 p.m. Feb. 4. Allure Dance Company will host children’s dance workshops from 1-3:30 p.m. Feb. 5, and Ballet Folklorico de Antioquia will express Columbian folklore through movement at 8 p.m. Feb. 18.

Berman Center managing director Elaine Smith said the theater has received lots of calls and questions about Dance Month, and she said it’s perfect for fans of the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.”

“Now people are able to come to the JCC and experience New York artists, New York dance companies and international dance companies in a place where there was nowhere for dance before,” she said. “We’ve got the latest in lighting, the latest in sound (and) the prettiest dance floor I’ve ever seen. No scuffs.”

Dance Month is occurring at the Berman Center for the Performing Arts, located at the West Bloomfield Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit, 6600 W. Maple Road, until Feb. 18.

To learn more about tickets and show times, visit www.the berman.org or call (248) 661-1900. To learn more about Eisenhower Dance Ensemble in Southfield, visit www.ede-dance.org.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1058.