Call it the Three Faces of Janet Lilly.
Lilly’s Danceworks concert Friday night, called Have a Seat, featured only dances with chairs on stage. Lilly’s three pieces were playful, architectural and lyrical.
The big piece, Immediate Seating, was set on seven members of the Danceworks company, and was part hoedown, part musical chairs and part Hee-Haw. Set mostly to country music at the extremes, the dances reflected the incessant coupling and uncoupling of the music. Partners waltzed and bumped their way to other partners. People set up house, made babies (represented here by Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls) and eventually walked off into the sunset.
Lilly danced her 1992 solo, Glacial Milk, with playful abandon, arching backwards as Kiri Te Kanawa’s voice soared. But then falling, regressing, rolling, tumbling, 
and fidgeting with Louella Powell’s gorgeous red dress.
And the lyrical Lilly showed up in the person of Kelly Anderson, who danced her 2004 The Weight of Skin with beautiful concentration and spirit (the dance is set to poetry by Susan Firer and music by John Tavener). While the chairs seemed almost extraneous in the other dances, here they enabled Anderson to free all her limbs, letting arms and legs cascade through the air almost independently as she sat firmly on a small bench. In an evening filled with ample doses of humor and irony, the sheer grace and beauty of this piece stood out.
Lilly also played producer, showcasing two pieces by other choreographers. Navtej Johar danced his own To Sit or To Be!, an impish meditation on the way body and spirit collide in even the most rarified practices. And Isabelle Kralj brought two dancers from Slovenia in to dance here I Still Don’t Know, a reflection on the highs and lows of relationships, set to rigidly rhythmic music.
There are two shows Saturday and one Sunday. Get your tickets here.
Review- Have a Seat
Call it the Three Faces of Janet Lilly. Lilly’s Danceworks concert Friday night, called Have a Seat, featured only dances with chairs on stage. Lilly’s three pieces were playful, architectural and lyrical. The big piece, Immediate Seating, was set on seven members of the Danceworks company, and was part hoedown, part musical chairs and part Hee-Haw. Set mostly to country music at the extremes, the dances reflected the incessant coupling and uncoupling of the music. Partners waltzed and bumped their way to other partners. People set up house, made babies (represented here by Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls) and eventually…
