THANK YOU to the 400 patrons who attended our recent production of Voci Dance Presents at the Garden Theatre!
Click
here to read Diane Hubbard Burns review in the Orlando Sentinel.
Here's our response:
I guess that is why we love art…. everyone is entitled to their opinion. We don't choreograph new work based on the venue we are performing in and we certainly won't play it safe simply because we weren't performing in a downtown Orlando venue (or NY for that matter). Although we realize many in the West Orange community may have never experienced modern dance before, Voci has a little more faith in the Winter Garden community. We're also guessing that a lot of audience members are coming from downtown Orlando. But again, we don't create art based on geography.
If audience members are left wondering about symbolism or left wondering period, then we have done our job. If "accessible" means playing it safe, then audiences can get ready for a lot more "inaccessibility." Voci has consistently given audiences a reason to "return to modern dance" and after 8 years, we don't plan to start from scratch by offering an evening of works that are safe and "lightened up."
Our goal is that everyone walk away finding something they can appreciate, relate to, and/or enjoy. Audience members may like some of it and dislike some of it. To us, that is the definition of accessible. We know we can't please everyone, but we are "always ready to step out on a limb. Whether leaping off mini trampolines in mid-dance, working with puppets or moving to spoken word, Voci's dancers have given audiences reason to stretch their definition of dance." (11/7/08 Orlando Sentinel) We hope to continue to stretch that definition.
We produce work that is "demanding of viewers" and we don't think that's a bad thing.:)
We would love to hear your thoughts! Please email us at info@vocidance.org or via myspace.