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Girls! Undressing!

But this is serious dance

A A A Comments By Julia Ramey Thursday, Jun 15 2006

In Toni Leago Valle's dance creation Interview for a Date, she appears on-screen in a cocktail dress, telling a faux interviewer how she'd please her man if she were hired. In front of the screen, the live Valle shows how the woman really feels -- exasperated -- through modern dance. It's part of "Interview for a Date/I Take My Clothes Off," Valle's one-woman show at Big Range Dance Festival.

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Her other piece, I Take My Clothes Off, is more serious: In the act of shedding her clothes (save bra and underwear), the dancer regains her sense of self. "We say we're open-minded, but we're not," Valle explains. "A man can talk about sex all day long, but a woman can't."

Yes, there's a lack of clothes here; no, burlesque is not the point. Nor is '60s-style outrage. "It's about body image and sex, which has been done before," she says. "But this is not even a feminist piece. It's not angry." Valle recently received a grant to create a full-length, one-woman show; tonight's appearance is a preview.

And hey, while we're talking about sex, be sure not to miss Sara Draper's and Dancepatheatre's "Breasts X Censored." In today's show, Erica Lewis, Lindsey McGill and Catalina Gutierrez satirize America's obsession with the human mammary gland, while cameo appearances and video shots convey (gasp!) contrasting cultural views. Check out Valle's preview and the other body-themed numbers at 8 p.m.
June 16-17, 8 p.m.

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