It’s Friday afternoon, and you are counting down the minutes until you get off of work for the weekend. Whatever you may be doing — working in a cubicle, studying in the library — there is a certain feeling that comes with knowing, in just a short amount of time, you will be done for the week and will soon have free time to do whatever you want for the night.
With their sold-out performance of “Nightlife” at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, the Eugene-based Work Dance Company@@http://workdancecompany.com/Work_Dance_Company/Home.html@@ sought to express exactly this feeling of getting off work for the week.
“It’s just a representation of the nightlife, and what it brings. The time when you can finally let yourself go and express yourself and feel free,” said Nathan Boozer, director and choreographer for Work Dance Company.@@http://www.myspace.com/workdancecompany@@ “It’s just about the time when you can have a good time and just be yourself, just love yourself and enjoy yourself.”
With a two-hour performance, the crowd at Hult experienced 20 dances — 10 performed by Work Dance Company, and the other 10 performed by guest groups in between each “Nightlife” piece. These guest groups included hip-hop, modern and contemporary dances by Kings Krew, Dance Northwest, Zapp, The Dance Factory and the University Dance Team.@@names checked        http://workdancecompany.com/Work_Dance_Company/Home.html@@
Mixing jazz/funk, hip-hop, contemporary and modern dances, the company performed in front of a big screen displaying graphics behind the dances throughout the show. Paired with atmospheric lighting and, at points, fog created by dry ice machines, audiences were given more of a production than one would expect from a traditional dance performance.
“I want (audiences) to come expecting a dance recital, and I want them to get a show,” Boozer said.
In order to achieve this, he teamed up with producer Ryan King@@http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7XfMQ3CAP4@@ — who produces the shows for Work Dance Company — to edit the video, special effects and music that plays throughout the show.
Enhanced by the music and special effects, pieces like “Dancing in the Moonlight” precisely captured the light, airy happiness and elation that comes with being done with work for the day, while “Monster’s Religion,” a “Thriller”-esque number, focused on a different kind of nightlife, one riddled with darkness and monsters.
The company began in 2008, when Boozer, a 25-year-old dancer who has been dancing for 10 years, grew tired of the politics of the dance scene around Eugene. Seeking to bring a new outlook to dance, he started Work Dance Company and has been directing and choreographing the shows ever since.
“I really like that all of my dancers have such diverse backgrounds in dance and really bring their own style and freshness to the stage,” he said. Some of this individual style was revealed on the stage during “Nightlife,” when each of the dancers performed a short solo for the audience.
Consisting of 23 dancers including Boozer himself, the company features a wide range of ages and dance backgrounds. The group practices four days a week for two hours when they are preparing a show; for nine months, they have been working on “Nightlife.”
For the dancers of the company, this is not their first time to sell out a show at the Hult. Work Dance Company has sold out four shows prior to “Nightlife,” and each time is exciting for multiple reasons, according to Boozer, but mainly because he feels his dancers understand the passion and vision that he sees for each dance.
He hopes that this passion his dancers show will impact audiences.
“I want (audiences) to have a stronger passion for dance and a strong understanding of what it truly is. It’s about expressing yourself to your full potential,” he said. “Even if they never think about us again, if they think about dance and continue to support it, that’s all I’m asking for.”
Next up, Work Dance Company will host open auditions on Thursday, Feb. 23 at Oakway Fitness Center. Auditions will begin at 8 p.m. and are open to all dancers over the age of 18. The company is also set to perform again on The Hult Center stage this spring or summer with a new performance titled “Goo Goo for Gaga,”@@like queen’s song@@ which will be devoted to the music of Lady Gaga.