| . | 08/20/2009
A Time to Dance: New York Fringe Festival
By: R. Pikser
This one-hour, one-woman play, written by the performer, Libby Skala, is not really about dance, though it is about dancer and dance therapist Libby Polk. Nor is it a biography, though it recounts Polk’s life. Rather, it is a portrait of a woman so full of love, love that she was lucky enough to encounter when she was a tiny, tiny premature baby that she danced her way through life. Events that made others shudder and give up, she was able to take as gifts. Her portrait has terrible moments, ranging from the unforgettable shame of having her cotton-stuffed breasts revealed as false at a dance, to her nearly not escaping from the Nazis as they closed in on Austria’s Jews. Yet the only moment that brought this reviewer to tears was Libby’s visit to her old nanny back in Austria and her realization that this woman’s love had somehow sheltered her throughout life.
Ms. Skala has an excellent sense of dramatic rhythm, and the moments of horror are interspersed with very funny moments, such as the discovery of the snap fastener for ladies’ garments that her father then sells to a fat, cigar-smoking notions distributor. Throughout, the humor is not so much in the events as how Ms. Skala portrays them.
Ms. Skala fills the theater with her energy and with her characterizations, not only of her Aunt Libby, but of the people in Libby’s life. Each one is a clearly imagined and portrayed person. Nor does Ms. Skala forget to react to events as they affect her. And from our first sight of her hopping around the stage waving maracas, dancing to the actual music that Libby composed for her dance students, we feel the fullness of the love that will be revealed to us at the end of the show.
If there is one criticism, it is that there is a bit too much unfocused hopping around. The movement keeps the energy of the piece flowing, but Ms. Skala is not a dancer, and the movement, when compared to the specificity of the acting, begins to seem vague. A little fine tuning should take care of this problem and render the piece an even more polished gem.
A Time to Dance
New York Fringe Festival
August - Saturday 15 @ 2;15; Tuesday 18 @8:00; Thursday 20 @ 9:45; Friday 21 @3:00; Monday 24 @ 9:45
Lafayette Theater
45 Bleecker Street, NYC
Tickets $ 15, but cheaper for packages
Cash only at the door, on line and by phone by credit card
Those wishing to attend for free can volunteer to work
www.FringeNYC.org Call 866 468 7619
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