Orange County’s own, The Wooden Floor, challenged audiences to open both their minds and hearts in a sold out weekend engagement at the REDCAT theatre (Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theatre) in downtown Los Angeles.  The three works presented by Mark Haim, Melanie Ríos Glaser, and Nami Yamamoto, in that order, showcased the seventy-three underprivileged youth’s strong dancing chops.  In an emotional and probing program, viewers were shown various aspects of the dancers personalities, experiences, technique, and most importantly youthful spirit.

The unique spirit The Wooden Floor’s dancers and supporters carry with them is highly infectious.  The second you enter the performance venue, the space is buzzing with hope and anticipation for these children baring their souls through the expression of dance.  Dancing that was full, full of clarity of movement, intention, and honesty by every single performer that entered the stage gave the audience the opportunity to laugh and cry without abandon.

With performers ages ranging from eight to nineteen you expect to see the typical studio or school dance program.  The type of a program you only watch because the kids are so cute, and they look so painfully adorable trying to remember their steps in time with the music.  The Wooden Floor is far from that and gives you a swift kick in the butt and demands your full attention within the first few minutes of the concert; which opened with the piece Los Angelitos by international choreographer Mark Haim.  Haim’s restaging of the beautiful creation, which premiered in 2002, was the most complex piece of the evening.  The opening female solo center stage was so maturely performed and clearly executed.  As the piece built, each dancer that entered the stage was so engaging it was difficult to view the work as a whole instead of in parts.  The mixture of typical dance lines with isolations of the head and torso gave the piece a unique movement vocabulary.  This was showcased well when the dancers divided into three groups repeated isolation movement phrases that seamlessly transitioned into a male female duet center stage.  Images of isolation and finding a group dynamic to overcome were prevalent in the work, which resonates with The Wooden Floor’s mission.  The technical dancers of the program were showcased in this work and filled the space as the piece built to an emotional section where the dancers whirled and soared across the stage.  As the piece came to a close all of the dancers were on stage with their arms held high above their heads in a high “V”, ready to take flight.

Following Los Angelitos was director Melanie Ríos Glaser’s True or False: I Was Born in the Netherlands, which gave the audience the opportunity to see the lighter side of the Wooden Floor.  A side filled with pop songs, inside jokes, random conversations, and fun facts that challenged the audience to evaluate their own perceptions about the children on stage in front of them.  Without fear the dancers invited you into a day in their shoes.  We were reminded what it was like to have a sugar high, rock out to our favorite songs in front of the mirror, talk about our hopes and dreams, and to spend time with others without any hidden agenda.  Wearing a hodge-podge of colorful and individualistic costumes it was refreshing to see people dancing, not dancers trying to be people.

Flying with My Shooting Stars by Nami Yamamoto was the least accessible piece of the evening and it must have been a difficult decision to change the program to make it the closing remark.  The somewhat somber work featured a marionette style puppet handled by puppeteer Lindsay Abromaitis-Smith made out of a mix of found objects.  The dancers could only do so much with the little movement they were given.  Walking and running patterns accompanied with dragging dancers across the stage repetitively may have been the safe choice when working with these dancers.  It is obvious The Wooden Floor dancers, although not your typical dance body type or bag full of tricks dancer, could handle more movement than walking and standing with purpose.  The section, which included a duet between the creepy yet likeable puppet and female dancer, was the most thoughtful section of the work.  Regardless, seeing these dancers stand on stage is a nice treat because they are all such beautiful creatures to take in.

The Wooden Floor challenged the audience at their REDCAT engagement by simply being themselves and letting that shine brightly.  Not many organizations have that power and it is a true gift to be able to watch the wise beyond their years youth bare it all for you through movement.  The wall was brought down for this performance and the audience was able to get to know the performers on stage.  The tears, laugher, and final standing ovation were all well deserved by this remarkable group of young people.

For more information about The Wooden Floor check out our review about their REDCAT performance from December and their website, www.thewoodenfloor.org, for upcoming performances in Orange County.

Close your eyes and imagine a place where children dance their way into college with scholarships, while overcoming tremendous adversity with poise, grace, style, and a contemporary edge.  You are probably imagining a cheesy Disney show or a movie from the 80s.  Stretch that thought even further and imagine these same students presenting such great art that they are invited to perform at illustrious performance venues like the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in Los Angeles.  No, it’s not a special on Oprah.  These children are real and they are right here in Orange County.  They all belong to the recently renamed The Wooden Floor in Santa Ana.

In its twenty-sixth year, The Wooden Floor is an environment that provides the communities youth with a, “Foundation, support, (and) launch-pad from where our youth are able to receive all that they need to take off.”  Says the artistic and executive director Melanie Ríos Glaser who is a well traveled and accomplished dancer and choreographer with a BFA from the Julliard School.

Over the twenty-six year span, the program has grown from a small pilot program founded by Beth Burns, a former nun, in a basement of a church to a multi-million dollar operation with its own state of the art facilities built in 1999.  This gorgeous facility gives the nearly 400 students of which 98% are of a Latino or multi-ethnic descent and 96% families’ are HUD designated as “Low to Extremely Low Income” an environment they can thrive in.  These students overcome so much adversity to be apart of The Wooden Floor, “Socioeconomic status is a challenge for being here,” says Glaser.  This facility partnered with the programming which keeps dance at the center surrounded by academic and family services gives these students a positive environment free of the outside limitations put on them because according to Glaser, “Everywhere else, they don’t get what they deserve.”

The programming with a now 100% college acceptance and attendance rate for all graduates cannot only be applauded for its academic and social accolades.  Formerly known as St. Joseph’s Ballet, The Wooden Floor has never performed a single ballet, but is at the fore-front of presenting cutting edge contemporary to post modern dance works.  This type of art is why The Wooden Floor is presenting at REDCAT for the second time, the first was in 2005.

“The kind of art they present is the kind of art we are interested in making,” is the reason REDCAT is an ideal setting for these, “…luminous, mature beyond their years, and glorious,” dancers, says Glaser.  Collaborating with choreographers Mark Haim, Nami Yamamoto, and director Melanie Ríos Glaser gives the dancers the opportunity to explore social issues, technical movement, and a more in depth sense of self and community.

All three contemporary works will challenge the audience on the January 15-16^th performances at REDCAT.  Mark Haim’s restaging of Los Angelitos takes an in depth look at overcoming adversity, while Nami Yamamoto’s Flying With My Shooting Stars is an abstracted look at the group dynamic, and Melanie Ríos Glaser’s premier aims to show the more real nuances of the youth performing.  The program will give the audience an overall sense of who the students of The Wooden Floor are and the abounding tenacity of their youthfulness and the strength in the challenges they have overcome.

The Wooden Floor’s evening at REDCAT runs January 15-16, 2010 at 8PM both evenings with tickets on sale for $20 and $10 for students.  Click here for more performance and ticket information.