Jason Powell and friends
plead for nerd-love. (Photo by Mark Frohna)
It seemed like an odd idea from the start: a modern dance company collaborates with an improve sketch comedy group to create an evening of…. Well, they really didn’t know what they set out to create—they just wanted it to be about dance. And funny.
What’s So Funny?, which runs through Oct. 13 at Danceworks, is still hard to categorize or explain. But it isn’t hard to describe: inventive, witty, audacious, hilarious, and, at times, even touching. It’s the most fun I’ve had sitting in a theater in a while, and if that sounds like a blurb designed sell tickets, so be it. The more the merrier.
For the show, Danceworks company members Dani Kuepper, Kim Johnson-Rockafellow, Christal Wagner, Melissa Anderson, Joelle Worm and Liz Zastrow (and welcome guest Alberto Cambra) are joined by the members of The Show—Karen Estrada, Matthew Huebsch, Doug Jarecki, Andrea Moser and Jason Powell—a sketch comedy and improv group. The combined groups spent a few months brainstorming and rehearsing, and unleashed over a dozen short sketches to an unsuspecting public. The result is a show that should have more sequels than Saw.
Since surprise is part of the delight here, I won’t be a spoiler. But here are some of the things you can see in What’s So Funny?
—A grown-up version of “The Potty Dance” that will be familiar to toddlers and parents of toddlers.
—A human-size foosball table.
—A short documentary about the burlesque dancer named Nipples (that was her real name—her stage name was Jenny).
—A brilliantly executed silent movie tribute worthy of Keaton or Chaplin.
—A Busby-Berkeley style dance number to a poignant lament for nerd/geek-love (be sure to notice the dancers’ headgear).
—A funny and oddly touching parody of The Black Swan that brings a bit of South Park snark into the world of grade school ballet classes.
And, as promised, you will see dancers act, and actors dance. And do it exceedingly well (a special shout out to Melissa Anderson for her portrait of a turbaned doyen of “interpretive dance”).
Regular Danceworks fans will get a special kick from seeing familiar dancers put on costumes and go for the funny. Comedy fans will get a charge from the great physical humor from dancers and actors alike. What’s So Funny? is a hoot. Long may it plié.
