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Thursday, September 05, 2002

By Jane Vranish

It's a dance designed to stop traffic -- literally.

	Choreographer Sarah Skaggs says that her piece, "Get Out of the House," is designed to draw the audience into art. (Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette)

Dance Alloy will premiere "Get Out of the House" by New York City choreographer Sarah Skaggs today at an intersection in East Liberty near the Kelly-Strayhorn Community Performing Arts Center.

The dancers won't be doing a dangerous pas de deux with passing vehicles; a block of Penn Avenue will be closed to traffic. Instead, this will be an inviting dance for pedestrians.

"We're taking Nike's lead with a proactive title," Skaggs explains. "We want people to get off the sofa, get away from the TV, stop shopping."

This "House" will be built in three other Pittsburgh locations, including The Waterfront Town Square in Homestead on Saturday and Dominion Plaza, Downtown, on Monday. For the finale on Sept. 14, the dancers will perform as part of the Alloy's fall fund-raiser, "Topless2," at the First Avenue Garage, Downtown.

	Dance Alloy "Get Out of the House" Where and When: Kelly-Strayhorn Community Center for the Performing Arts, East Liberty, 12:30 p.m. today; The Waterfront Town Center, Homestead, 7 p.m. Saturday; Dominion Plaza, Downtown, 11:30 a.m. Monday. Tickets: Free; 412-363-4321. Fund-raiser: The final performance of "Get Out of the House" will be atop the First Avenue Garage (over the T Station) Sept. 14 as part of "Topless2," which includes a buffet dinner, dance with House of Soul and presentation of the Allies of the Arts Award, saluting Janet Sarbaugh of the Heinz Endowments. Tickets are $50 to $150.

Each site has its own challenges.

"First of all, you are competing with the outside, which is sort of an organized chaos," says Skaggs.

Local disc jockey Edgar Um Bucholtz will tackle the job of gathering the audience and organizing the chaos of the street. "He's a real disc jockey -- someone who jockeys discs in the old-fashioned vinyl-to-vinyl way," Skaggs explains. "He'll create the climate from which the dance springs forth." And, with a collection of more than 4,000 records, the dancers may not exactly know what they're getting into.

The surfaces also will vary -- concrete, grass, paving stones -- and are not available for extensive rehearsal. So the dancers are practicing not only in the studio but also in a grassy park and on a local basketball court.

And the different surfaces also mean footwear is a prime consideration. The dancers experimented with running shoes, but the "twisty, dervish spinning" that Skaggs devised nixed that idea. It turned out that Capezio dance sneakers provided the optimum benefits with arch flexibility, turning facility and the ability to take an occasional pop onto the tips of the toes.

Skaggs has done similar formats with so-called "community dance." She's used decorations and opening acts in her signature work, "Higher Ground," where audience members drink, hang out and dance. "It mixes the formal with the informal," she says. "Of course, Merce Cunningham used to remix his work in his 'events.' 'House' is a much more spontaneous project with dance, music, DJ, audience and fresh air."

So Skaggs sees dance not only as a way of life but also as a part of life outside of theaters.

And now there is a "House" provided.

Thursday, September 05, 2002