Freddie vs. Elvis is a full-length, original dance piece in two parts. Joe Landini, choreographer and director, isolated sections of Mercury’s vocals from the soundtrack recording. The presence of Freddie in the darkened theater creates a haunting, spooky atmosphere. The six dancers moving through a series of tableaus in various lighting effects is stunning.  In high contrast is the second part of Freddie vs. Elvis with dancers dressed in Las Vegas style costumes. Instead of using Elvis’ actual songs, Landini sets the choreography to the instrumental Karaoke versions and live singers join the dancers onstage.

Rites of Spring is Joe Landini’s masterful re-working of Igor Stravinsky’s classical score and famous ballet about an ancient pagan Russian society that was fiercely controversial for its day. There are no pagan rites here, yet Landini’s take stands up as social commentary for our time. There is all-out, visceral dancing by six intense performers. The rituals are enacted through a series of organic scene changes. The audience enters the main room where the dancers act out pedestrian kitchen chores—sometimes friendly and hospitable and sometimes passively violent. Once escorted to a tight space, the audience jostles with the dancers. As the music crescendos, the audience processions full circle back to the main room where a large banquet table has been set for them to feast.