Dance Satirist Iva Kitchell Offers Diverting Program
Dance Satirist Iva Kitchell Offers Diverting Program
By Lois B. Gehring
Last night at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater, an enthusiastic audience was treated to a delightful performance by dance satirist Iva Kitchell.
Miss Kitchell presented an unusual and unique program. From the moment the audience entered the theater they were invited to share in the impish wit and intimate jokes perpetrated by the petite Miss Kitchell. There was a program note signed “Fondly, Iva,” in which she confessed to feminine indecision about which dances in her repertoire of 27 to perform; but she promised to “call off the numbers as she went along.”
In a brief prologue, we saw Miss Kitchell in preparation for the performance. Between bites on a sandwich and sips of coffee, she put on her makeup in remarkable mime in front of a vividly realistic but invisible mirror, brushed her hair into the first of a series of amazing hairdos, and donned her first costume. From that time on she remained on stage constantly.
‘Interludes’ Delightful
Each number was preceded by a few informal comments as well as a costume change. Not only did Miss Kitchell change ; to the costume of the dance to follow, but she also assumed the character of the dancer to appear. These “interludes” constituted perhaps the best part of the show and revealed the talents of the true comedienne almost more than the dances themselves. It is here, too, that the complete oneness between artist and accompanist was most in evidence, for the interlude represented an ad lib duet of mime and music which was a joy to watch.
But the dances provoked many additional laughs. Particularly hilarious was an affectionate burlesque of the Isadora Duncan classic style in a Scarf Dance-Garland Dance. In Valse Triste, Miss Kitchell portrayed the disastrous results of a home-made dance movie. The projector ran first too slow, then too fast and finally ran backwards. Through it all Miss Kitchell danced and Harvey Brown played, following the vagaries of the uncertain film. The modern dance came in for its share of spoofing in an unaccompanied number entitled Non-Objective, full of browbeating and soul searching.
Costumes Add To Humor
The humor was always subtly underlined by the perfectly designed and often hideous costumes (all created by Miss Kitchell), and the music which was ably arranged and/or composed by Brown. Although listed on the program as composer-pianist, Brown can also be described as an accomplice-in-nonsense. One of his contributions to the conspiracy was an ingenious arrangement of clothespins on piano strings by which the music of Pseudo-voodoo took on added interest.
The Ann Arbor Civic Ballet is to be congratulated on sponsoring this totally entertaining program. Surely no better therapy for these troubled times could be found than Iva Kitchell and her special brand of parody.