LF_092018

LakeForestLeader.com LIFE & ARTS
the lake forest leader | September 20, 2018 | 21
Dancers bring innovation, audience engagement to Ragdale event
Katie Copenhaver
Freelance Reporter
The Ragdale Foundation
in Lake Forest completed
this year’s Ring Series
with Dance-Scape on Saturday,
Sept. 15. It was one
of four public performances
held in the mansion’s
backyard using the temporary
ring installation.
Curated by choreographer/dancer
Kristina Isabelle,
it brought together
actors and dancers from
Hubbard Street Pre-Professional
Program and
Walkabout Theater Company.
According to Ragdale
Executive Director Jeffrey
Meeuwsen, the purpose
of the Ring Series
is threefold: to recognize
Ragdale’s rich cultural history,
encourage new artistic
creation and engage the
public. He noted during
his introduction that the
series takes place using a
ring installation because
when Howard Van Doren
Shaw originally built the
house and designed the
grounds for his family,
his playwright wife held
public performances in the
original ring space.
This year’s winning
design for the grounds is
Noodle Soup by Columbus,
Ohio-based architects
Galo Canizares and Stephanie
Sang Delgado, and
it was installed in June. It
consists of several vertical
structures covered in green
and yellow artificial turf
that have slopes, steps and
windows (or holes).
“The intent of this installation
was to have the
audience and performers
moving around and interacting
with the structures,”
Meeuwsen said.
That’s why they invited
Ragdale alumna Kristina
Isabelle to curate this
show. Through her company,
Kristina Isabelle
Dance, she is currently
working on “site-specific
performances bringing the
audience into nature with
movement, video, sound
and food,” per the website.
“Dance-Scape was not
only about the interaction
with the ring and all of
the fabulous performers
and costumes,” Isabelle
said. “It was also about the
idea of transformation and
spreading joy. I was looking
at the ideas of the ring
designers and their concepts
of fun and play, and
I took it to another level.”
In the beginning, one
dancer slid around on the
installation’s structures
and popped through the
windows, sometimes startling
audience members.
Isabelle called her The
Seeker. Five actor/dancers
in bright pink and orange
costumes on stilts who
charged through the space
with a sense of purpose
were The Guides. The
dancers in typical attire
of tank tops and leggings
were Us, Isabelle said.
Next, the dancers cycled
in and out of the ring returning
in different costumes.
There was a bird
sequence with a couple
of dancers in bird costumes
perching on top of
the ring’s structures and
the accompanist drummer
wearing a bird mask. They
were followed by a group
of invaders: insects, aliens
and birds of prey.
After that came a mixture
of animal-inspired
costumes, from a unicorn
to several dancers wearing
hats or crowns with antlers
and goat horns.
Then, Isabelle and the
dancers moved all the
noodle cushions into a
circle and invited the audience
to sit on them while
the accompanist cellist
played a solo in the center.
After that, the audience
members joined the
performance by sitting or
climbing on the structures
and joining in the dances.
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Performers entertain the crowd in costume before the Dance-Scape show Saturday,
Sept. 15, at Ragdale. ALEX NEWMAN/22ND CENTURY MEDIA