All The Hullabaloo
Corpus Dance Works (formerly LC Creations) - Lily Conforti
In this dance show we rip through the cereal box of life looking for the prize at the bottom. Milking the nostalgia of our youth; we loop through the woes of adulthood because in the end…Trix are only for kids.
Tagged For: Dance, Storytelling
Content Warnings: (none)
Ages 7-11 and up
I nearly missed this one in the listings because of the company’s name change, but the minute I saw Lily Conforti’s name as choreographer I realized one of my new favorite dance companies was returning for another Fringe and I was quite happy. (Auto-correct keeps wanting to make her last name Confetti, but it's not an entirely unwarranted instinct - her shows are celebrations that aren't afraid to play with making a mess :)
The company used to go by the name LC Creations, which is the name they had during their 2019 Fringe outing Botanical Dancing which caught my eye (and a lot of other folks’) during previews. That was still the name they had when they returned with the rest of us after a two year pandemic pause in 2022’s Fringe with I think we are supposed to be ‘Coming of Age’ by now.
Both times, five-star entertainment in my opinion.
The first time, my preview write-up of Botanical Dancing was more exhaustive than my response after seeing the show - just a quick tweet review there:
Botanical Dancing: what a fun, joyous little dance party that was; dancers conveying the love of what they do directly to the audience without saying a word, just moving (and painting) with their bodies, delightful - 5 stars
(That was the year Mom died a month before the Fringe Festival so I’m still surprised, frankly, that I managed to attend every day of the festival that year and see a show in pretty much every slot. I was still a bit raw and shell-shocked. That I managed even the briefest of notes as a record still astonishes me. Wish I’d had it in me to write more expansively on the last pre-Covid Fringe. There were a lot of great shows that year, well worth going on about at length, Botanical Dancing included. All that said, joy was in pretty short supply that year, so the fact that a dance show was able to elicit that sort of happy response from me at the time is kind of miraculous. Very grateful for that show at that moment.)
I think we are supposed to be ‘Coming of Age’ by now got more of the standard full review treatment. Still the same joy, love and energy, this time with a rock band thrashing away as their accompaniment. Great fun in a completely different way. Of the show, I said in part: “While I’m glad I had the ear plugs (it was still plenty loud, I didn’t miss anything), I’m also very glad I was there. You’re not liable to find a more fun dance show in the Fringe this year. They’re serious about dance. But they’re also serious about enjoying themselves, as is the band, and they want to make sure you enjoy yourself, too, whether you come up on stage for the dance party at end the end or not. I’m very excited to see whatever they do next.”
And now here they are with what’s next, which involves a lot of breakfast cereal, among other elements.
The “More Information” tab on their show page has pictures and further detail on the show and its origins:
“The idea for this show came from experiencing our own individual post grad identity crises. In our conversations, we began to reminisce on the simple pleasures of childhood, like solving the maze on the back of the cereal box and reaching for the prize at the bottom. The plot of our work is also driven by a diverse musical score that gives momentum to the peaks and valleys of our story. We crave to bring whimsy and vigor to the stage through dance that snap, crackles and pops to life with bright colors, eclectic music and boxes and boxes of cereal. This dance show really is one size fits all; it appeals to the theater nuts, the dance maniacs, and the cereal eaters; what more could you want!?
This show is a collaboration that brings contemporary dance, pantomime, and nostalgia to the Fringe stage. It is a reflective birds eye view of the unanticipated emotional roller coaster of post academia life. This story arc is carried on a vehicle of colorful cereal advertising, irony, and vigorous movement. We dance an ode to the wheaties eaters, a sonnet to the Bran lovers, and a ballad to those who wake up and try everyday. In the most SERIOUS of contemporary dance works, we will be asking the hard questions of: Who pissed in your cheerios this morning?”
They’ve contained messes before (paint, no less), so I’m sure they’re on top of the way cereal can get out of hand sometimes as a prop. The pictures promise another intriguing ensemble romp so I’m very much looking forward to it. If you’ve seen them before, I don’t need to convince you to go to this one. If you haven’t seen them yet, treat yourself this year. Dance has rarely been more accessible and fun as it is in the hands of these artists.
(Photography by: Olivia Smith)
Here's some handy links to this year's Top 10 list and Top 11-20 list, also a full list of all returning favorites to this year's Fringe, plus a link to all the 2024 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage.
While I have your attention, please VOTE :)
Minnesota is currently in the early voting period
for our Congressional and local primaries (I had the U.S. Senate,
Congress, and the Minneapolis school board on my ballot) - final day to
vote in the primary is Tuesday, August 13th, but you don't have to wait
until Fringe is over, go vote right now :)
Early voting for the Presidential Election itself in Minnesota starts on Friday, September 20th.
We're lucky to have a lot of time to get our voices heard, so cast your
vote, and then make sure everyone you know and love is registered and
gets to the polls to vote. Election Day, your final date to vote, is Tuesday, November 5th.
As a queer playwright and theater maker, I want a government that's compassionate and competent enough to keep us all safe and healthy, keep theaters open and running, and personally, I'd just like to be legal myself and keep the weirdos out of government and out of my personal business (and the things I post on this blog, for instance). We all have our reasons, so let's make sure we get the leaders we need and deserve, and get our friends, family and co-workers to raise their voices, too.
Find where to vote and what's on your ballot (with links to candidate websites) and other resources at the Minnesota Secretary of State's website.
For other resources on how to register, volunteer or donate, locally or nationally, check out Vote Save America.
Vote. Raise your voice. We're not going back.
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