Imagine Ira Glass, This American Life‘s host, dancing on stage. Surreal. Yet this was the show brought to us by UCSB’s Arts and Lecture series. One Radio Host, Two Dancers sums up what the format was, kind of a live This American Life with dancers illustrating parts of the story. The performance was divided into three acts. With each act, a dancer or Glass himself walked across the stage with a sign designating which act it was. Act 1.
Glass appeared to control the music and pre-recorded bits of interviews that he had that wove into the stories. It was odd to hear the music and watch Glass wait for the right place to begin his narrative. I always imagined that the music was put in after he lay down the audio track so the live interplay was intriguing. Watching Glass’s mannerisms reminded me of Woody Allen. With that overlay, I totally saw that Glass had a similar delivery style as well.
The host and 2 dancers first collaborated in May 2012 on dances that were part of a This American Life variety show. Monica Bill Barnes, one of the title named dancers, choreographed the solo for David Rakoff in the 2012 show. Act 3 focused on Rakoff and Barnes performed the piece herself in a flashlight-held spotlight.
Thoroughly engaging, thought provoking, funny, sentimental. The show delivered it all.