One of the goals of the new SpareWorks Dance Company is to show San Antonio that modern dance isn't just “people doing crazy weird things onstage,” said Amber Ortega-Perez, who co-founded the company with Shonna Walden.

“This is a very entertaining evening. You're not going to get anything weird. You're not going to say, ‘Was I supposed to understand that?'.” Ortega-Perez said. “It's going to be enjoyable movement, enjoyable music.”
The company's debut performance, “Basics,” consists of past and present pieces choreographed by Ortega-Perez.
 
The works include a solo tribute to Dora Ruffner, a San Antonio dancer/choreographer who died of cancer in April, set to Joni Mitchell's “Both Sides Now,” as well as a humorous piece about the melodrama of relationships set to bossa nova music by Sergio Mendes.

The second half includes new work set to classical pieces by Chopin and Bach, which also have witty moments in them, said Ortega-Perez.

“A lot of my work is either/or. It's either touching and moving or quirky, weird, funny,” she said. “There's never any middle ground. If people want to laugh, go ahead and laugh.”

Because Ortega-Perez lives in San Antonio and Walden lives in Austin, the directors see SpareWorks as a dual-city company that will hold performances in both cities.

They called the company SpareWorks partly because of the pared-down production of their shows. Their first performance, at the University of the Incarnate Word, will be performed on a small stage with no wings or lights.

“Getting space to perform is really difficult, so the idea is just to create dances and not worry about lighting and special effects and great costuming,” Ortega-Perez said. “It's more just about the movement.”

It also refers to the fact that the company is a project the two dancers are fitting into their scant free time. Ortega-Perez is a co-founder of the Modern Dancers' Co-Laboratory and a co-coordinator of %W-I-P (Works in Performance) at Jump-Start Performance Co., and she teaches dance at several schools. Walden attends the University of the Incarnate Word.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA Contributor