By SHARON McDANIEL
Palm Beach Post Dance Writer
Friday, October 26, 2007
Demetrius Klein’s newest work may be his most personal and endearing.
Light in the House is the unremarkable-sounding title. Yet a deep love of nature, the beauty of a physical space, even a feeling of home inspired and make up the imagery.
Only when you watch a rehearsal are you struck with its deeper meanings. Light is far more spiritual than spatial. And the light source is far closer than the sun. It is Klein’s wife, Kathleen, whose partial, yet inspirational recovery from a stroke are both the reason for and the reality of performances Saturday and Sunday.
“One thing the stroke did for both of us was immediately refocus our priorities,” says Demetrius, founding and director of the Lake Worth-based Klein Dance Company. “I was pretty much done with dancing; so was she. That was fine. And then, it became important, like, ‘Oh, don’t take this for granted. Let’s continue to do this and explore.’ “
Katie and Demetrius, just the two of them, will dance the middle movement Light, set to music by their son Nicholas. It’s a powerful expression of the couple’s love – for each other and for modern dance. The 10-minute pas de deux is deeply moving and artistically satisfying – not for the restrictions that Katie still has from the stroke two years ago, but for the beautiful, intimate moments Demetrius creates from what the two can do together.
And that’s their history – lots of dance together, from the modern ballets created by Demetrius for their stage appearances, to the partnership that built a contemporary dance company from scratch.
“Katie and I have always had a lot of quiet understanding as artists working together,” says Demetrius. “We’ve always had a kindred spirit from Day One.”
The 10-minute duet by the 40-somethings will be less physical and slower than you’ll see from the 20-somethings in Klein Dance who perform the two longer outer movements. But when the couple began talking about returning to the stage, a goal was set: October for the Klein Dance Fall Festival.
“For me,” says Katie, “Light in the House was almost like this is light at the end of the tunnel. I saw the possibilities of what we CAN do, not what we can’t do.”
Her recovery continues with swimming, Alexander Technique, weight training and more. The paralysis of her left side has reversed enough for her to move. It’s hard to believe that in two years to the month, Katie, then only 45, transitioned from near-death to wheelchair-bound to dance-floor soloist.
Read the rest of this entry »
Saturday, February 9 at 9am & 11am
Posted by davbraz 
Posted by davbraz 
Posted by davbraz 
Miami Ballet Festival
October 3, 2007We performed at the Kravis Center on the BIG stage a few days ago for the 12th annual Miami Ballet Festival that extended itself all the way up to West Palm Beach this year. Dancing in the Dreyfus Hall was pretty amazing! We even got a little blurb written in the paper about the local modern dance company performing in the Miami ballet festival “always athletic and self-searching” they said. We were performing parts of our new piece, “Light in the House”. I really feel its another good one. We’re also performing Continuum/Surrender on the big stage on October 9th. We thought it was just for a kids show during the day time but it turns out its also for a dance educators convention they’re having. So that’s really cool too!
XII International Ballet Festival of Miami //07 USA
August 31 to September 15
Founder & Artistic Director: Pedro Pablo Peña
Five Spectacular Performances
// Miami Dade
// Coral Gables
// West Palm Beach
// Miami Beach
CONSIDERED THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BALLET FESTIVAL IN THE UNITED STATES FEATURING WORLD-WIDE PRESTIGIOUS BALLET COMPANIES REPRESENTED BY THEIR GREATEST STARS.