"Time Piece" by Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre and the Flying Foot Forum Featuring Katha Dance Theatre at Park Square Theatre

I caught the first preview of the new dance show Time Piece at Park Square Theatre last night, and it was the most magical experience. I was there to see Flying Foot Forum, a favorite since the early days of this blog for their infectious and exciting percussive dance style. But I was blown away by the artistry of all three companies and the way that they worked together and intermingled their seemingly different styles, representing traditional dance forms from around the world. Dance is one of the universal languages that unites us all, and is one of the oldest forms of storytelling. This collection of pieces definitely tells stories, evokes emotions, and is just mesmerizing to watch. Time Piece officially opens Saturday and runs through next weekend only on Park Square's Andy Boss Stage (with the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Between Riverside and Crazy opening in their main theater next week), so head to St. Paul soon to experience the joy and beauty of these three dance companies.

Time Piece is a collection of pieces, some short and some long, arranged in two acts. The first act is mainly comprised of a longer piece called Dandelions: A Sojourn through the 4 Seasons in 13 Scenes. It's here where the three companies really join together to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Combining Zorongo's flamenco dancing from Spain, Katha's kathak dancing from India, and Flying Foot Forum's percussive dance pulled from many traditions, it's a whirlwind journey through a year, or maybe through a lifetime. We travel through four seasons from spring to winter, with dance and music combined with poetry to really evoke the feeling of each season. From hopeful and happy spring, to joyous summer, to melancholic fall, to a winter that feels like a poignant end. Just seeing Dandelions would be worth the price of admission alone, as it evokes all of the emotions and covers so many styles of dance - in solos, duets, small groups, and everyone on stage - but there's more! In the two and a half hour show we also are treated to individual pieces by each company that really highlight their specific talents, including Zorongo's sobering Amor De Dios, which tells the horrifying true story of up to 300,000 babies in Franco's Spain that were stolen at birth and sold to more "desirable" families. The pieces in this show range from pure fun and entertainment to something deeper and more meaningful.

The three artistic directors - Flying Foot Forum's Joe Chvala along with Artistic Associate Karla Grotting, Zorongo's Susana di Palma, and Katha's Rita Mustaphi, combine for the majority of the choreography along with a few guest choreographers. Each dance style developed in a different part of the world and has its own very specific movements, but all share a percussive and rhythmic style. Kathak dancers are barefoot but still make a rhythmic sound with firmer footfalls, and wear beads around their ankles that create a rhythmic sound. Flamenco includes percussive footwork, hand clapping, and castanets. Flying Foot Forum combines tap-dancing and step-dancing from various traditions, as well as body-slapping. In this show dancers perform to both recorded music and live musicians (including flamenco singer Alfonso Cid, guitarist Ben Abrahamson, violinist Tessa Nichols-Meade, and ensemble members), but it's almost more thrilling when they perform unaccompanied, making music and rhythms just with their bodies and movements.

Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre (photo by Bill Cameron)

The intimate Andy Boss stage is a great space for this show, because you're so close to the dancing you can feel the rhythms in your body. Seating is general admission and if you can sit in the center section, do, but they also at times perform to the sides of the stage (even though there was nobody sitting there at the performance I attended). Sets and props are quite elaborate and help to tell the different stories, and the costumes are just stunning. The long flamenco dresses that flair at the bottom, the rich jewel-toned and bejeweled kathak costumes, and the story-specific costumes are all a treat to look at.

I don't very often get a chance to watch dance, so when I do, it's a thrill. I haven't seen Flying Foot Forum perform since before the pandemic so I wasn't going to miss this show; there's something about their percussive body-slapping foot-stomping style that really appeals to me, and they can be silly or poignant or anything in between. As a bonus I was introduced to Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre and Katha Dance Theatre and was truly impressed and inspired by their artistry. All three of these companies have been around for over 30 years, but this is their first collaboration. The result is something so joyful, so beautiful, and makes me so grateful to live in a nation of immigrants where we get to experience dance and storytelling traditions from around the world.