Crumb and the Pirates

Yesterday Tashena performed at the Capitol Theatre with Children's Dance Theatre (CDT) in their production of Crumb and the Pirates.  I really love that Tashena performs on the same stage as prima ballerinas and Broadway stars!  My entire family went to support her (as we do every year).  While I really enjoy watching Tashena play sports, I especially love watching her perform on stage!  She is such a beautiful dancer and I think she expresses everything she feels through dance.  Tashena was on the CDT Dancers' Council this year so she got to perform in an extra dance called "Silver."  It was very beautiful with original music composed specifically for it by Wachira Waigwa-Stone.  Crumb and the Pirates tells the story of a fishing village in Napoli.  After being caught in a terrible storm, many fishermen from the village are presumed dead.  A young boy named Crumb thinks that his father, one of the missing fishermen, is still alive and decides to borrow a boat and look for him.  As he is fishing, he feels a tug on his pole so he reels in his line only to discover that he has brought a sunken pirate ship, with a group of prisoners in the hold, to the surface.  Captain Rafael the Red decides to follow Crumb back to Napoli and the pirates wreak havoc on the village.  When Rafael decides to marry his mother, Marie, Crumb comes up with a plan to banish the pirates back to the sea but not before discovering the mystery in the ship's hold!  I really enjoyed this story and all of the dances, especially the pirates, the prisoners, and the little girls who portrayed seagulls!  Tashena's dance was "Fog" which was very mysterious and atmospheric.  The dancers wore gray tunics and they moved in and out of actual fog on the stage.  The dancers seemed to disappear at times!  A lot of the choreography involved rolling and tumbling across the stage which I thought was very effective at simulating how fog moves.  Tashena was amazing!  I always get a tear in my eye watching her!

Crumb and the Pirates will be performed once again at the Sandy Amphitheater on June 23 (a free concert) and at the Utah Arts Festival on June 27.  Come see my beautiful and talented niece perform!

Note:  CDT is the performing arm of the Tanner Dance Program at the University of Utah.  Go here for more information.