Dance Review: Keigwin Kabaret; Good Klean Fun!

The Keigwin Kabaret is good klean fun, well, maybe not so clean, but definitely good fun. Keigwin’s cast of dancers know how to get down and dirty, and his burlesque special guests round out the evening for a sexy good time.

A voice welcomes us to K-Air, reminding us to turn off all portable electronic devices, cell phones, pagers, rabbit vibrators, a whole slew of other naughty devices, you know, the usual. The company enters dressed in airline attendant uniforms for a campy, over the top, opening number. A section of hand choreography based on airline attendant gestures proves that strong dancers performing crisp, clean hand movements can be as visually stimulating as pirouettes and leaps, and holds the advantage that recognizable gestures are something to which everyone can relate. But don’t worry, his brilliant cast of dancers do plenty of pirouettes and leaps as well.

The special guest host for the evening, New York’s comedic superstar Murray Hill, ties the show together with hilarious routines and irreverent comments, like pointing out the bad waitress service. She/he leads an audience participation dance-off, in which two of the volunteers just happen to be dancers. Perhaps it really is true that only dancers attend dance shows, or perhaps it’s a coincidence. Since Keigwin reaches such a wide audience, I’ll vote for the latter.

Another special guest, Big Moves New York, is a burlesque trio of women size XXL, XXXL, and XXXXL. They flaunt their flab with a sassy dance dressed in red satin lingerie which had to have been specially made in their sizes. The largest busts out her massive lumpy belly and shakes it around. For a moment it becomes abstract, not ugly, but alive, and dare I say, beautiful.

Throughout the show, solid dance technique continues to state its presence and justify the uptown location. Dancer, Ying-Ying Shiau, dressed in a polka dot bikini, floats between three men with effortless looking lifts. And guest, Scott Lyons competes in a “fierce-athon”, busting out appropriately fierce extension while wearing only a rain coat and a patch of black feathers in the place of pubes.

In my favorite dance section, Keigwin’s diva dancers dance to Devo. His choreography is technically impressive, and entertaining, and has just enough strangeness for a downtown dance girl, like myself, to justify liking it. This piece includes highly physical and quirky floor work, complete with lizard licks and bird beak hands.

Special guest surprises continue to pop up, and out, with the World Famous Bob, who is actually a busty blonde. She proves the power of simplicity in her hilarious strip tease to highly recognizable, dramatic music. There’s the build up….. then……. off comes the top, then….. the bottoms. Boom, boom, boom, boom. There’s no extra movement or drama, only the side to side movement of her booming body, and the drama created by the music. It’s brilliant.

In his Kabaret, Keigwin does what he does best; bring dance to a wide audience. He creates work that is entertaining and accessible while maintaining a sense of style and intelligent sense of humor. He makes work that is sellable without selling out; something a lot of choreographers could learn to do.

Top, Larry Keigwin, Photography by Tom Caravaglia

iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Julie Fotheringham
Performance: Keigwin + Company, Keigwin Kabaret
Venue: Symphony Space, New York City
Date: April 9, 2009
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