To Edwin Roa, producer of Friday's Rhythm of the Soul at the Albemarle County Office Building, dancing is something integral to human nature. Beyond the moves, beyond the rules, dancing is spirit and enthusiasm. And, of course, rhythm.
"Dancing is not at all about your legs," he said. "It's about upper body movements and understanding your own rhythm. You cannot imitate someone else. If it's not yours, it's fake."
In producing Rhythm of the Soul for the Charlottesville community, Roa intends to convey just this fact. Shocked by the lack of professional dance in Virginia, as well as the low quality of the existing teaching, Roa is bringing a different sensation to the art. As an instructor in ballroom and Latin dances, Roa scorns the strict guidelines and corruption dominating the dance community. His hatred of seeing dancing portrayed as a business is, in Roa's words, "the main thing that drove me to do this."
Rhythm of the Soul is designed therefore to push the guidelines off-stage, concentrating on "understanding what you're doing and the meaning behind the dance," Roa said.
He wants the audience to grasp the history of dance - the ways in which seemingly dissimilar artistic forms come from the same traditions. In his words, every concept of dance and music today was originally "born out of the African beat drum." In this sense, Rhythm of the Soul gets across the idea that everybody is basically the same, that all dances are united because they have come from the same initial starting point.
The performance consists of two parts: samples of ethnical and multi-cultural traditions and then a spotlight on the evolutions of social dance. By taking so many varying artistic dance forms and merging them together, Rhythm of the Soul emphasizes the different ways that people can show the same human emotions. The effect is incredibly powerful and needless to say, emotional simply in the viewing.
Part one of Rhythm of the Soul contains African drummers, a local bluegrass band who are regulars on the Downtown Mall, the Chinese Student Association with a drum and gong dance and 20 students from the Burnley-Moran Elementary School with a traditional Spanish dance. When met with the idea for this performance, Roa met with many groups from the University's Culture Fest, looking for a variety of nationalities and traditions to portray.
The ethnical traditions are sexy (like the Indian belly dancing), startling (the African drums) and even reminiscent of Americana (the bluegrass band). But above all, they are emotional and they capture the varieties of dance and experience that can capture human thought while even using the same drum beat.
Part two, the evolution of social dance, portrays such standards as the Viennese waltz, the foxtrot, the hustle, the Charleston and 1950s swing. At the same time, the local dancers present Latin salsa, cha-cha, tango, mumba and mamba alongside a performance by the Latin Ballet of Virginia, a collection of Latin and classical dancers based in Richmond.
With practices beginning approximately a year ago and with people joining in up until only a few months ago, Roa wanted to involve people from the University and Charlottesville communities who had never participated in social dance before. He wanted to prove that anyone could perform these dances.
And they can. The hustle - a downright sexy dance from the 1970s - is performed to "It's Raining Men" in the dark lights of a nightclub. Cocky guys and flirty girls act out more than just the foxtrot to the music of "It Had to Be You." The 1950s culture clash comes to life with swing and the magic of "happy feet." The dances are energetic, fun and downright mesmerizing. They're more than an eyeful - they are a look into why the world still loves to dance so much today.
Rhythm of the Soul, performing at 7:30 p.m. Fri., April 5 and Sat., April 6 at the Lane Auditorium in the Albemarle County Office Building will be a stunning glimpse into the understanding of dance. Just as Roa said, all people have to "just love the fact of cultures. The goal of the performance is to show the different varieties of style and above all, the different varieties of demonstrating emotion."
Tickets are $10 and are being sold at Plan 9 and at the door. Transportation is provided by UTS to and from the show, leaving from the University Chapel.
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