AURORA | Light, airy piano lines sounded and dancers appeared on the stage armed with symbols of innocence.
One steered a bicycle onto the new dance floor at the Kim Robards Dance studio off East Colfax Avenue and Florence Street. Another moved slowly across the room’s shiny stretch of black marley flooring, dipping a small, plastic wand into a bottle and blowing bubbles into the air. The rest of the performers followed the pair’s symbolic lead with delicate choreography that followed the hopeful mood and simple melodies of music penned by Latvian composer Georgs Pelecis.
Creative director, founder and dance company namesake Kim Robards stood apart during the rehearsal June 13, keeping a close eye on the performers and offering instruction in single adjectives and stark commands.
“Rich, full body everybody; sequential, light,” Robards said. “Watch each other.”
Those instructions came before the mood darkened. Stark string lines overtook the piano, a group wheeled a row of theater seats onto the floor and the dancers’ movements took a dramatic turn. Those seated in the bank of chairs threw their arms in the air suddenly; some collapsed; others jumped in front in gestures of protection. Between flourishes and spins, dancers picked up their peers and carried them offstage.
All of the movements dramatized a tragedy that forever changed an entire community.
Robards’ close attention to every detail of the rehearsal came as no surprise, considering all of the significance wrapped up in the new dance piece titled “Aurora” that debuted last week. Choreographed by Robards, the work served as the troupe’s premiere performance in their new home. Robards, who founded the company in 1990, recently set up shop in a former furniture store in the Aurora Cultural Arts District; she’d been forced to relocate after the sale of the troupe’s longtime home base in Denver.
The company started its residency in Aurora with an intensive two-week rehearsal process for “Aurora.” They’ll follow up the new work with performances at the city’s summer arts festival June 29 and debut a new season of work in the fall. The company is also hosting classes on site and at local elementary schools.
“I feel like this is a new beginning. It’s new life for us,” Robards said. “We’re excited to share that with our audience.”
But the symbolism of “Aurora,” which premiered last weekend and is set to figure into the company’s new season that kicks off in the fall, goes deeper than the troupe’s recent move. It deals specifically with last year’s shootings at the Aurora Century 16 theater. The piece tracks tragedy, mourning and the recovery of an entire community through dance.
“We’re coming upon the one-year anniversary of the tragic theater shooting, and I knew I wanted to touch on that,” said Robards, who started work on the choreography shortly after she learned the company would be moving to Aurora. Robards said she wanted to convey a specific message with the work. “Even after the greatest of tragedies, hopefully you get into the momentum and glory of life. You have to find the exuberance again, because if you don’t, those tragedies will take you under.”
That message comes through in Robards’ vibrant choreography in “Aurora,” as well as the subtle use of props and scenery during the piece. After the dancers wheel out the theater seats and the music takes a dark turn, the direct references to the violence and loss of July 20, 2012 is impossible to miss.
Seated dancers raise their arms as one in a gesture of shock; performers collapse; bodies are splayed on the ground and dancers carry their peers offstage. Eventually, the mood of the music turns epic. Dancers return to the seats. The cyclist, the bubble blower and the other symbols of innocence and strength return.
“This work, for me, is a big departure from the other works that I’ve participated in terms of the use of props,” said Michael Medcalf, a dancer who started working with the Kim Robards Dance company in 1996. Medcalf also pointed to the use of characters in the work. The fact that Robards made an effort to feature a diverse set of personalities, costumes and identities in the work is a new step. “There’s the identification of ordinary people … This work grounds itself there through the use of motifs.”
Medcalf added that those new elements come along with Robards’ trademark choreography and movement, a signature she’s developed through decades of dance. Robards, 59, has refined her style through work with local organizations like the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Denver Ballet Theatre and The Academy of Colorado Ballet. She’s worked internationally on stages in Scotland, France and China, and she’s garnered local awards and glowing praise in the New York Times.
Robards’ arrival in Aurora is the latest addition to an arts district that’s seen a rapid growth in a relatively short amount of time. As the first dance company in the Aurora Cultural Arts District, the Kim Robards troupe will fill an important niche in a scene that hosts acclaimed theater companies and up-and-coming galleries. The troupe worked with the city’s Colfax Economic Enrichment Program to get more than $25,000 for the move.
While the company may eventually move from its temporary location on Colfax and Florence, Robards and the rest of the troupe’s creative staff insist they’ll stay in the city’s arts district for the foreseeable future. The debut of “Aurora” is part of a bigger push to help the city find its next chapter.
“It celebrate’s Aurora’s spirit,” said LaRana Skalicky, the company’s associate executive director. “It’s so that Aurora doesn’t just become synonymous with that one event.”
Robards is tackling that formidable task the only way she knows how. As she kicks off the next phase of an impressive career, she’s counting on the power of human movement to have an impact far beyond the stage.
“When you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, there’s this richness to dance that you have to maintain,” Robards said. “You even have a stronger desire to bring it to humanity, to transform peoples’ lives through dance.”
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at 720-449-9707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com