OMO Dance Company – 13th Annual Season

by Paula Citron.
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OMO Dance Company and Sur Theatre
Choreographed by Debbie Wilson and Sur Theatre Collective
Performed by Alexander Chifman, Micaiah Ganz, Lina Jiménez Nykwist, Amanda Nicole, Anton Pasquarella, Mary Podgorski, Meghan Rose and Almond Small (OMO), and Lisandro Gomez and Tatiana Melnyk (Sur Theatre)
Betty Oliphant Theatre
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OMO Dance Company under artistic director Debbie Wilson wears its heart on its sleeve. For 13 years, Wilson has been presenting dance humanism rendered in her dramatic ballet/jazz/modern fusion. Since her first concert, she has attracted a following who believes dance can, and should, be socially relevant.

Her three part The War Trilogy comprised the first half, and its three sections – Flight, Refuge and Return – are a real statement about the war-torn countries we see on the daily newscasts. The graphic images of despair are heart-rending.

Wilson also included Raphael is Whispering, her poignant paean to death, and the amusing My Thoughts Are My Own, about what people are really thinking sitting politely at a concert.

The guest company was Sur Theatre who performed Diaspora. The company combines tango with contemporary movement to produce quirky, magic realism dance theatre. This piece is a compelling homage to Argentina’s desaparecidos, or disappeared ones.

Sur Theatre certainly fits right in with Wilson’s artistic zeitgeist.

Photo credit: David Hou
(OMO Dance Company in Refuge from Debbie Wilson’s The War Trilogy)