Expanding horizons: Dance Theatre of Lynchburg goes ‘Inside Out’

Guest choreographer Tyrone Cooper found inspiration for Dance Theatre of Lynchburg’s upcoming show when several pieces of his home electronic equipment malfunctioned.

Cooper, a dancer with the Charlottesville Ballet who studied at VCU, says “Conduit” is about missed connections, both in his everyday life — see those malfunctions — and his work life, when the occasional mental block stalls his choreography.

The piece is a part of Dance Theatre’s annual “Inside Out” showcase, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.

It’s set to a Bjork song called “Hyper-Ballad.”

In it, “she’s kind of sitting back and enjoying (a) relationship and seeing what would happen if it all ended,” Cooper says. “I wanted to do something (students) didn’t know already. I really wanted them to listen and pay attention to the lyrics.”

He worked with the dancers in July and was impressed with what he saw: “They’re so in tune with their bodies.”

Cooper isn’t the only new blood involved in this year’s show.

Jane Vorburger, an American Ballet Theatre alum who lives and works in New York, came down in June to work on her piece, called “Trio in Air,” which uses three different songs: a traditional Irish piece, a Vivaldi concerto and Japanese composer Yiruna’s “A River Flows in You.”

She wanted her dance to be nine to 12 minutes long, so Vorburger started listening to music on her iPod and finally settled on those three.

“It just kind of clicked at some point,” she says, adding that the piece uses “three different styles of movement that I think are all pretty fun to do and pretty to watch.”

Working with lots of original choreography, from different sources, is the key to becoming a good dancer, says Keith Lee, Dance Theatre’s artistic director.

“It’s good for them to have totally different movement thrown at them. It keeps them fresh, and it keeps them viable.”

The guest choreographers, who are young and up-and-coming, also benefit from the experience.

“It gives them a chance to expand their horizons and sharpen their tools,” says Lee. “It’s a laboratory that’s just open for different artists to come in and create.”

Inside Out will also feature Dance Theatre staples “Mary, Don’t You Weep” and “Gotta Gotta,” as well as “Metamorphoses: From an Artist’s Perspective,” which combines film and dance. All were choreographed by Lee.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $7.50 for students and seniors., available online at http://www.LynchburgTickets.com. For more information, call at (434) 846-6272.