Boulder Magazine Fall 2007 :: dance profile :: 3rd Law Dance/Theater

3rd Law Dance/Theater

Contemplative Troupe Stirs Emotional Reactions

By Tanya Ishikawa

“Endgame—Begin” was one component of a work titled “Iconoclashtic.” Photo by Dave Andrews

Reformed ballerina Katie Elliott and social sciences professor Jim LaVita host a unique kind of group therapy. At performances by 3rd Law Dance/Theater, audiences experience a dance performance designed to inspire contemplation. As founders of 3rd Law Dance/Theater, the couple blend her passion for the artistry of modern choreography and his intellectual thirst for stimulating theatrics, to produce hour-long, multimedia dance tapestries focused on social themes.

“We don’t comment directly on those themes, but abstractly use a message that can be taken away,” Elliott explains.

Founded in 2001 and based at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 3rd Law is composed of its two founders and six dancers. Additional dancers are sometimes invited to contribute to the single-themed dance productions, which are scheduled about three times a year at the center as well as the Denver Art Museum, the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art and other locations. This fall’s experimental performance allows the audience to explore colors along with the dancers and a jazz ensemble, led by local jazz legend Art Lande.

The company is named after the last of Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion: To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The identity suits Elliott and LaVita’s artistic aim, which is for their choreography and stagecraft to evoke emotions, memories and intellectual analysis in the viewers.

Personal Issues

“The interesting thing is people don’t always see the same thing or react the same way. They all react to their own personal issues,” LaVita says. “People find something in it that changes them, transforms and awakens them. We don’t mind entertaining, but that isn’t our goal.”

Jim La Vita and Katie Elliott, founders of 3rd Law Dance/Theater. Photo by Tanya Ishikawa

LaVita, who teaches anthropology, digital media and theater at the University of Denver, develops the video footage for each performance, and collaborates on the movement motifs. Besides his doctorate in anthropology, he earned a master’s degree in folklore and a previous doctorate in math and computer science. He didn’t discover dance until he was 30 years old, when he took up Scandinavian folk dancing. Since then, he has studied, taught, consulted and written about this traditional dance form, and founded his own ethnic dance ensemble.

Elliott, on the other hand, began learning ballet at 10. She discovered modern dance, a contemporary dance form based on various movement techniques and diverse music styles, when she entered the University of Utah. She was attracted to modern “because the choreography is not about just a story but an idea, and the movement is motivated not by a technical base but from a conceptual base,” she says.

After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree, Elliot trained and performed with the London Contemporary School of Dance and the Jennifer Muller Dance Company in New York. She has since taught and performed in Utah and Colorado, and currently teaches modern dance for 3rd Law and Boulder Ballet. Her influences include modern dance pioneers Martha Graham, known for her issues-themed choreography; Merce Cunningham, known for athletic choreography; and José Limón, known for his dramatic expression.

Pixels to Glue Together

Elliott and LaVita’s choreographic ideas originate from newspaper stories, paintings and other cultural stimuli in their lives, and are then enhanced by intense discussion, research, costuming and staging. The result is a string of images on which the audience can reflect and connect, rather than a folk tale or classic story.

“I think we’re so used to having a story, like we see in Holly-wood stuff. People can have a hard time,” says Elliott, who also works as a graphic designer. “They want to get it—they want to get everything. If they don’t, they feel like they’ve done something wrong. Our performances are not to get. They are to carry away for later, to use in a different place and time.” She adds, “I’m creating pixels for them to glue together, instead of the whole picture. My goal in creating pieces is to supply the layers and textures for audience members to assemble in a way that writes their own stories.”

Lara Hayes-Giles in “Lost in Place,” surrounded by shoes that represented memories. Photo by Catrine Truillon

Past 3rd Law works have included “A Mannequin Dream” (a play on the phrase American dream), about the dilemma of a still body in a relentlessly moving world; “Barometric Pressure,” about navigating life’s disasters; and “Bread & Salt,” about the clash of modern and traditional perspectives influenced by fate, as in various marriage traditions. Last spring’s “Lost in Place” offered a meditation on the sense of place and how it can be changed or lost, for example through migration or the natural process of aging. The evening opened on a scene suggesting Ellis Island. To the blast of a ship’s horn, the dancers pushed wheelbarrows piled high with boxes, while dozens of shoes littered the stage and dangled overhead. The shoes stood for memories, Elliott says.

“I always enjoy their shows because of the mix of video, spoken word and movement. The shows are edgy yet humorous and relevant,” says Karen Gerrity, interim executive director of the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). “The choreography is unique and pushes the envelope. The dancers are strong and capable, and able to articulate the sometimes complex messaging.”

Peter Davison, executive director of the Boulder Ballet, adds, “The cultural and folkloric viewpoint of LaVita combined with the contemporary dance/theater abilities of Elliott make for an unusually compelling experience. I don’t know of any company with quite that combination of talents.”

3rd Law Dance/Theater presents “Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear,” Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6 at 8pm and Sunday October 7 at 2pm at The Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut St. It includes the premiere of a new collaborative work with acclaimed choreographer Gabe Masson, Grammy-nominated musician Art Lande, and the Boy-Girl Band.

Tanya Ishikawa is the editor of the Denver Urban Spectrum and a regular contributor for various Colorado publications, including Health & Wellness, The Cultural Times and Westminster City Edition. She also makes short films.