A cajón thumps a heartbeat in the darkness. It’s a universal beginning, a throwback to our mothers’ pulses. With just a few beats, the audience in the Overture Center’s Promenade Hall has tuned minds and bodies to this shared experience.
“The Rhythm Project,” a production of the dynamic TNW Ensemble Theater duo Donna Peckett and Danielle Dresden, has two more 3 p.m. matinee performances today and tomorrow.
This year marks 40 years of co-creating and co-producing for Peckett and Dresden. Primarily a tap dancer/choreographer and an actor/playwright, their combined expertise shines in this show that beautifully weaves live musicians into conversation with dancers.
Laurie Lang on bass and Leah Reinardy on piano demonstrate that finesse in a nutshell with “I’ve Got Rhythm.” The intricacy of their play with rhythm, and falling out of it, is delivered with calm tongue-in-cheek flair. We are invited into the joke while reveling in their skill.
Misconceptions about the represented art forms bring laughs, sighs and groans from an audience that clearly knows too well the misery of comments from ignorant strangers — though aren’t we all sometimes that stranger? Thank goodness Dresden speaks in dark moments of transition to provide fascinating background and depth.
Irish dance, flamenco, body percussion and tap offer their own unique flavors and lineage from just as many continents, and their rhythms make beautiful countertime when joined.
The cast features an astounding capacity for subtlety and range: in age/experience, in tone, tempo, and in the range of human experience from ferocity to playfulness, from floating flight to hammering heels.
From left, Laurie Lang (on bass), Omari Carter, Leah Reinardy (on melodica), Katherine Kramer, Tania Tandias (on floor) and Sean Frenzel rehearse for “The Rhythm Project.”
Omari Carter’s body percussion instrumentation shows range in a breathtaking deftness of tonal quality and syncopation — all while engaging the audience with the quirk of an eyebrow, a teasing half smirk or an enigmatic glance over the shoulder. His use of audience participation calls to mind Bobby McFerrin. Wordlessly splitting the audience in half, Carter gets half the room snapping and the other half clapping as a backdrop to an improvised aria of stomps, thumps and slaps.
Tania Tandias, a flamenco and Spanish dance treasure in Madison, takes the audience on a lifelong journey of passion and pain in her Tientos/tangos solo. The journey through torment, sassy sensuality and macho finesse celebrate humanity’s resilience in the rollercoaster of life.
Up and coming international Irish dance champion James Zavos — whose dynamic jumps make me wonder if he’ll land in time for the beat (he always does) — pairs briefly with Tandias. Their duo refreshingly demonstrates that lived experience keeps pace and complements youthful vigor.
James Zavos, left, and Tania Tandias, right, rehearse for “The Rhythm Project.”
“The Rhythm Project,” with a small but mighty cast, highlights an unusual range in age and experience of performers. Zavos demonstrates incredible athleticism and skill, and side by side with local legends, the audience is welcomed in to see how the community supports individual voices.
In a section called “Wrestling with My Heart,” Katherine Kramer and Sean Frenzel highlight another beautiful, intergenerational relationship. They are both expressive and fully embodied in their own ways. Their closeness as mentor and mentee is evident in the way they share the stage.
An impromptu parade carries the show into its closing sections. We hear and feel the performers enter the theater through the rear entry. Their improvisation — a rarity in contemporary performance — rides on the tools of their decades of practice. They cite each other with Carter noting Irish dance, and Kramer and Frenzel hitting flamenco “fotos,” all in conversation with and learning from each other in the moment.
“All you need to find the beat is to listen for it,” Dresden said. We all need this kind of community and solidarity, and “The Rhythm Project” provides a heartbeat that connects us all.
“The Rhythm Project” features dancers, around the circle from left to right, Omari Carter, James Zavos, Tania Tandias, Katherine Kramer and Sean Frenzel. The musicians are Laurie Lang on stand-up bass and Leah Reinardy on piano.
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