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Grounds for optimism
Office-drudgery cliches and formulaic feats of strength are partly balanced by some less predictable ideas in Frit and Frat Fuller's "The Daily Grind."
By KELLY HAYES
Offoffoff.com
The opening image of Frit and Frat Fuller's "The Daily Grind" was very promising. The ominous-looking duo stood holding the ends of a rope that tied slumped and defeated Kenji Yamaguchi to his folding chair while they looked out at the audience and smiled sinisterly. Frit and Frat remained animated and intriguing. However, the rest of what followed was a long string of "gimmicks" and things I have seen many times before.
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| | | THE DAILY GRIND | Company: Kin Dance Co..
Choreography by: Frit and Frat Fuller.
Directed by: Frit and Frat Fuller.
Dancers: Frat Fuller, Frit Fuller, Kenji Yamaguchi, Jessica Peasant, Jessica Walker, Sara Segulin, Andre Zachery, Stephen Contreras, Gabriel Croom.
Related links: Official site | | SCHEDULE | Linhart Theatre
440 Lafayette Street, 3rd Floor
Aug. 8-24, 2003
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"The Daily Grind" was a story of struggle and survival in the corporate world. With section titles like "Subway" and "The Bored Meeting," the choreography leaned toward stereotypical scenes of urban life. Too often, the movement consisted of dancer tricks and feats of strength (which were, nonetheless, impressive on these highly trained dancers). But, even amazing dancers lack appeal when facing downstage and dancing in unison for 4 counts of 8.
Despite their prowess in movement techniques, the dancers' dramatic performances were not up to par with those of Frit and Frat. Their faces were often flat and expressionless. When a character did appear, it was, more often than not, two-dimensional and cartoonish.
I did enjoy some of the more layered energetic moments of "The Daily Grind." Notably, In "Subway," dancers took turns vaulting into the laps of their seated commuter companions while a briefcase was tossed above and around them. I believe the choreographers have good ideas about what audiences like to see. I would encourage them to do this in less predictable ways.
Frit and Frat Fuller themselves were the highlights of this performance. My recommendation is that they take their physical comedy and over-the-top character work and make it even more "gimmicky" and clownlike, in duet form. Leave the rest of the choreography at home.
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AUGUST 26, 2003
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