Gabi Rojas moves with grace & determination, despite an early fight with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

[Guest guest]

Cleo 's dancers leap to their next production

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14884666

Learning a complex piece of choreography is hard enough without having to do

it at a moment's notice, but that was exactly what Cleo

Dance was up against this month.

After returning from a series of shows in New Jersey in late March, the

Denver company's dancers had to reset and absorb an entirely new work from

New York choreographer Ray Mercer - and they needed to do it in less than a

week.

" Dancers need to really feel that sense of trust where they can literally

fly in the air or land in each other's arms without killing themselves, "

said between rehearsals earlier this week.

Fortunately, preparation has a way of erasing time deficits, as audiences

will see when Cleo

Dance's annual spring concert, " Move, " opens this weekend.

The show, which runs through April 25 at 's theater in Five Points,

contains the titular premiere from Mercer as well as Brazilian choreographer

ngela Silvestre's " Temple in Motion, " McKayle's " Nocturne " and

excerpts from 's own " Spiritual Suite. "

" Ray Mercer has this unbelievable way with dancers that just physically

challenges them to no end, " said. " He comes in and has all of these

extraordinary ideas, but he does it in such a quick amount of time. "

Mercer says he has no choice. " I have to be that way because I just had a

show last night and I flew in this morning at 6 a.m., " said Mercer, in town

earlier this week to fine-tune his creation.

An award-winning dancer in Broadway's " The Lion King " (which also features

several alumni), Mercer has been performing eight shows a week on

top of choreographing his own pieces and teaching at places like Alvin

Ailey's Summer Camp Program and the Joffrey Ballet Educational Program.

" It takes an extreme amount of preparation, and there's no plan B, " said

Mercer, who has been dancing with " The Lion King " for seven years. " You have

to know exactly what you want to do, so I workshop and makes videos before I

come, I have tons of notes and I know the music inside and out. But the

minute the dancers see that, they immediately step up to the plate. "

Better-trained dancers from more comprehensive dance programs deserve credit

for quick turnarounds, said. But the amount of material they needed

to absorb for " Move, " including an all-new Cirque du Soleil-inspired aerial

piece from choreographer linda Rojas, would be daunting to any artist.

" Some of the works are really on the edge and dangerous, " said. " We

have this real grounded work with Mr. McKayle's 'Nocturne,' with intricate,

challenging rhythms where the body becomes the drum.

" Then you have linda's 'Identity.' Her daughter, Gabi, is a company

member and grew up around the circus for most of her life. And an incredible

thing about her journey is that she came into dance late because she has

juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, but then she went on to be on (Fox reality

show) 'So You Think You Can Dance.' "

" Nobody has much time anymore, and yet what's so beautiful about dance is

the process, because you have to un-layer a lot and get down deep in a

dancer's being, " said. " Our dancers are very disciplined about how

to keep their own. "