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Caroline Calouche & Co. begins their second season in Gaston County with their original contemporary dance work The Taming of the Shrew. The region’s newest dance company will premiere Caroline Calouche’s version of the Shakespeare’s Battle of the Sexes play written between the late 1580s and early 1590s. While following the timeless themes of internal transformation and marital balance, Caroline Calouche has created a thought-provoking dance piece for all ages to enjoy. Act I Like Shakespeare’s play within a play, Caroline Calouche creates an outer story set in today’s world with one of the company dancers, Tai Dorn, slipping into a dream world where Shakespeare’s storyline takes hold. Tai now becomes the favored daughter and most sought-after maiden, Bianca Baptista. She first briefly witnesses her older sister’s, Katherine Baptista’s, agony from their mother’s blatant favoritism for Bianca. Katherine’s torment turns her against her family and the world. Even though Mother Baptista favors her younger daughter, she holds to tradition and the older daughter must be married first. Men find it impossible to court her for marriage even though she comes with a nice dowry. Bianca pleads in vein with her mother to allow her to marry one of her suitors. Word spreads of Katherine Baptista and reaches Petruchio in a neighboring town. He rises to the challenge, courts Katherine and makes plans to marry her with Mother Baptista. As Petruchio leaves to prepare for his wedding, Katherine shows a glimmer of interest in her future husband. Intermission Act II Katherine’s wedding day is here and Petruchio is extremely late for their wedding. Not only is he late but comes dressed horribly. They still marry as agreed, but leave the wedding celebration early due to Petruchio’s sudden change of demeanor. Petruchio’s goal is to tame Katherine by giving her exactly the same behavior she was dishing out to her family. Lucentio, one of Bianca’s suitors, courts Bianca and persuades her to elope with him. News spreads that Bianca and Lucentio are married and another wedding celebration is needed. Katherine is excited to leave Petruchio’s house for the first time since they were married and to wear a new gown. Yet Petruchio not seeing that she is completely tamed lashes out at the dressmakers and Katherine - destroying the dress. Katherine takes the pieces back to her room to sew them back together for her sister’s wedding celebration. At the wedding celebration, everyone hardly recognizes Katherine’s calm presence until she argues with Bianca’s friend, Trania, who is married to a former suitor of Bianca, Hortensio. As the women retire to their own conversation, the men make a wager as to whose wife will answer when called. Hortensio’s and Lucentio’s wives do not answer but Katherine gives a surprising appearance dragging the other two women with her to their husbands. Katherine conveys that she has learned from experience that marriage will not work unless there is a balance between husband and wife which needs constant attention. |
Youth Ensemble |
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CC&Co.'s first Youth Ensemble was created for The Taming of the Shrew. The Youth Ensemble consists of talented dancers from the age of 11 – 16 years old who live in Gaston County. After an audition, six young dancers have joined the project to perform alongside the professional dancers. During the project, they also receive free modern/contemporary dance classes as part of their training.
“I greatly admire these young dancers’ strength and independence to step out of their comfort levels to train and co-create in the contemporary dance language, which is not widely offered in Gaston County,” says Caroline Calouche. 2007 Youth Ensemble Blake Johnson, Sherwood Elementary School Victoria Melvin, Hunter Huss High School Rebecca Stowe, South Point High School Brittany Stroud, Hunter Huss High School Bethany Williamson, Northwest School of the Arts |
Newsletters |
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March '06 [Flash] [PDF] |
Press & ReviewsCaroline Calouche’s artistry and support for dance has been documented* here by various newspapers and magazines. |
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2005 Dancers incite growth of talent [Flash] [PDF] Preview November 11, 2005 The Charlotte Observer |
2004 Gaston dancer’s dream gets a boost [Flash] [PDF] By Leigh Pressley January 25, 2004 The Charlotte Observer |
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2003 Anderson with a twist [Flash] [PDF] By Margaret Putnam March 2003 The Dallas Morning News |
2002 Barefoot forward: Coalition returns with new works [Flash] [PDF] By Margaret Putnam December 15, 2002 The Dallas Morning News |
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2001 Serious relief: Barefoot Brigade offers austere alternative to holiday staples [Flash] [PDF] By Margaret Putnam December 10, 2001 The Dallas Morning News |
2000 future dimensions [Flash] [PDF] Preview October 2000 Fort Worth Weekly magazine |
| *Note: These documents can be viewed as either a Macromedia Flash file or Adobe Acrobat Reader file. Click here for the Macromedia Flash Player and/or here for the Adobe Acrobat Reader. | |
