The Michigan Daily- Friday, January 12, 1990 --Page 9 Dancing days are here Troupe draws on cosmos, Kings, and other things BY KRISTIN PALM ON the front of the dimly lit Performance Network stage, dancers Whitley Setrakian and Tom Cocco stand poised, looking intense as they rehearse their lines. Wait. Dancers rehearsing their lines? Something seems amiss. Amiss, maybe, but true as well. Setrakian, the choreographer and co-founder of Ann Arbor's People Dancing troupe, has a history of com- bining text and dance in order to create unique scenes which often present everyday situations in unexpected 9 ways. That tradition will continue this weekend as Peo- ple Dancing brings New Works for a New Year to life. However, Setrakian says, she is no longer able to claim the integration of words into dance production. as her trademark. "I liked using words with dance," she said. "Now, unfortunately, it has become the fashionable thing to do. It's not even remotely unusual." Nonetheless, the text plays an important role in New Works' "Rachel Trilogy" which uses humor, * satire, song, acting, as well as fragmented and flowing movements to depict scenes from the life of an ordinary girl and, later in the piece, of her anti-matter. Setrakian has definite ideas regarding the foundation of the latter two segments of the trilogy, "Rachel Part Two - The Saga Continues" and "Rachel Part Three - The Final Chapter." She describes part two as "science fiction for children" and part three as "bad science fiction writing for adults." But the original concept for the trilogy, like its subject, is less dramatic. "I was sitting on a bus one day and I thought of the *sentence, 'Rachel comes home too soon' and I thought it would be neat to make a dance using that," she said, adding that her productions are often influenced by dif- ferent forms of literature. "I read the New Yorker a lot. It's like an Anne Beattie short story," she said of the trilogy. The manner in which the segment is presented, using motions to il- lustrate abstract thoughts in order to create a cohesive whole, makes one wonder if Setrakian spends her spare time writing poetry. "Not if I can help it," she said. The remainder of New Works draws from a wide range of influences and a host of local talent as well. Like "Rachel Trilogy," "Nutshell" involves direct talk- ing but the dancers also interpret the words of the speaker in American Sign Language. "The Robe and the Crown" harkens back to Se- trakian's childhood visits to Appalachia and features live music by Ann Arbor musicians Sally Horvath, Dick Siegel and Tracy Lee Kormany, who is best known as the frontwoman of local band Tracy Lee and the Leonards. The music of younger Ann Arborites, the child duo the King Brothers, is incorporated into yet another work. Setrakian is vague when describing the impetus be- hind such eclectic pieces. She says her inspiration is derived "from the cosmos" but alludes to another, more attainable source. "I watched a lot of television growing up. That has nothing to do with stifling creativity, I believe." NEW WORKS FOR A NEW YEAR takes place tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. and on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Performance Network. Tickets are. $9, $7 for students and seniors and can be purchased at the Michigan Theater Box Office. ROGER Continued from page 7 Britton, a woman who earns grocery money by selling rabbits for pets or meat, take your pick. She unflinch- ingly skins a rabbit onscreen, adding that she's saving up pelts to make a Former GM worker and Deputy Sheriff Fred Ross doesn't have to worry much about job security, as long as he keeps up with his busy eviction schedule. On the several oc- casions on which Ross is shown do- ihg his job -, that is, literally putting families and their posses- sions out on the street --- Roger & Me drops its hip, cynical tone and turns graphically straightforward, an approach marred only during the last go-round, a Christmastime eviction simplistically intercut with Roger Smith's holiday address to GM workers around the world. So Roger & Me is finally com- ing to Ann Arbor, giving a lot of us, out-of-staters and in-staters alike, talook at how the other half lives right in our own movie is great backyard. And the entertainment to boot, careening along at a speedy pace. As Moore put it, "I wanted Roger & Me to play more like Pee Wee's Big Adventure than Hotel Terminus." He's accomplished that, and a lot more. ROGER & ME is playing at Show- case Dancer/choreographer Whitley Setrakian promotes freedom of thought, as well as freedom of movement, addressing such diverse topics as art and Appalachia, and using a variety of musical resources, including Bach and the Beastie Boys. I - PARTY HE v 1DQUARTERS! 1- l800-292-i WM~akat the 1704 Q Q- 4 v aI~ Hotels Suites e Condominiums A Belly Flop Contest A Tan Line Contest Volleyball A Water Volleyball A Raft Races . Water Hoops Mr. & Mrs. Spring Break 'j A Watermelon Eating Contest Shake & Bake Beach Olympics Coed Eventsv Fraternity Events Sorority Events Prizes Galore A Tug-of-War A Crab Races' A Over 40 Major Corporate' Sponsors I ..-- - W.in All Day & All Night Win Thousands &. Thousands of Dollars Worth of Prizes & Products P~aihe -800-292-7704 8o kd'/sId9 74' wt . .. .w " , i ! " T ' i , :1t i $ CINEM DIRCT~1 8 Bead the E & Near As low as 40 Different S Complexes Wsand_ per person - ututc