RELATED EVENTS

• Funny Feet

Brittany Edwards, one of Dance Kaleidoscope's newest company members, will have a solo spot as part of DK's humor-filled program "Funny Feet," running Jan. 3-6 at Indiana Repertory Theatre. (Provided by Dance Kaleidoscope)

Humor might not be the first thing you'd expect from a company steeped in the traditions of American modern-dance pioneer Martha Graham.

Few choreographers were as serious about their craft as Graham was, and her creations ranged from an early work called "Lamentation" to a series of Greek tragedies. But even modern-dance choreographers have a lighter side.

Despite being a Graham company, Indianapolis' own Dance Kaleidoscope will devote its Midwinter program to humorous works by company artistic director David Hochoy. "Funny Feet" will celebrate the humor in modern choreography, not to mention the lighter side of composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Arthur Sullivan and J.S. Bach. For the opening selection, Hochoy blended short takes from Mozart's comic operas with the slow movement of the Austrian composer's Clarinet Concerto. Hochoy turned to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas for the second major piece on the program, "G&S.com (A Gilbert and Sullivan Comedy)."

He also created "In the Moog," an abstract suite inspired by "Switched-on Bach," an album famous in the 1960s for its revolutionary Moog synthesizer renderings of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and other favorites by the baroque composer.

"You have three different pieces, and the comedy's different in each," Hochoy said of "Funny Feet." "I tried to keep the Mozart very fresh and tender, almost innocent -- like silent movies. The second one ('G&S.com') is situation comedy. The third ('In the Moog') is pure physical comedy."

As an added attraction, Brittany Edwards, DK's newest company member, will perform a solo called "Hush," set to music by vocalist Bobby McFerrin and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Hochoy originally set "Hush" for Edwards several years ago as a high-school contest piece.

Edwards said it should be easy to detect visual clues to Hochoy's choreographic humor all through "Funny Feet."

"Sometimes we act like old people," she said. "There's one part where we look like slugs and kind of slug across the stage."

Hochoy said it's not so much the serious nature of modern dance that makes humor a rarity. It's the challenge for choreographers.

"Humor in dance is very, very difficult," he said. "Sometimes it depends on the situation, and finding the physical equivalent in dance requires you to think very deeply.......

"Every five years or so, I decide it's time for me to make a comedy. It's so difficult that when I do it, I swear to myself I'll never do it again. And then I do it again."

Funny Feet
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Jan. 4 and 5, 2:30 p.m. Jan. 6. There will be a one-hour matinee at noon Thursday.
Location: Indiana Repertory Theatre, 140 W. Washington St.
Tickets: $20-$36, $6 for the one-hour matinee. Call (317) 635-5252 or visit www.irtlive.com
Info: (317) 940-6555, www.dancekal.org