Funhouse dance show features Chaplin piece

Donning a cane, a bowler hat and a mustache, Hartley will take on the role of Charlie Chaplin in "Charlie," a solo work meant to pay tribute to the silent screen star and bring humor to an original dance piece.

"I was a championship twirler when I was a kid and did a lot of drama things," Hartley said. "As a result, I have a love for Charlie Chaplin street theater. I have quite a good time with my cane."

The excerpt will feature the Scott Joplin classic "Maple Leaf Rag" and is one of eight sections included in the annual Funhouse fall production, four created by Hartley and the other four by guest choreographers from around Tucson and beyond.

Among the local guest artists pitching in are Nanette Robinson, artistic director of Zuzi Dance, with "Where's My Boy," a duet that focuses on the loss of male figures in one's life; and Lucia Zeffirelli, artistic director of the Zeffirelli 8, with "Neptune's Dream," a piece that brings the spirit of filmmaker Federico Fellini's movies to the stage.

On a more national scale, Hartley has Victoria Hutchinson coming in from her post as dance program director at Salisbury University in Maryland to put on the Peter Madden piece "Flocking."

Hutchinson and Hartley are longtime associates. Hartley was Hutchinson's dance instructor at the University of Arizona in 1980.

Set to an electronic score, "Flocking," Hartley said, is an abstract romp based on the flight patterns of birds.

"The dancers move around the stage with helmets, goggles and Snoopy Red Baron scarves," Hartley said. "It is really quite funny watching them perform."

Hartley will sprinkle her own works in with her guest artist pieces. In addition to "Charlie," she will bring back an excerpt from the popular Funhouse dance "Wild West of Physics" and explore Appalachia with the four-part dance, "Hardscrabble," which she debuted last spring.

She will include two excerpts from "As Time Goes By," the Funhouse director's dedication to her parents.

Hartley, 57, thought up "Time" after coming across a box of letters her father sent to her mom while in the military.

Set to Ella Fitzgerald's version of "Someone to Watch Over Me," the "Time" excerpt "Missing You" has Sherry Mulholland as Hartley's mom remembering her man. Mulholland also rides stick ponies with her stage daughter in the other section, "Hi Ho Silverettes."

"My mom would always play games with me," said Hartley, who co-founded Funhouse in 2000. "I had a lot of energy. Even now, I have more energy than anyone has a right to at my age."

Hartley said the annual production offers a chance for families to experience the beauty and the culture involved in dance.

She attributes the series' success to the city's Department of Parks and Recreation, which provides the DeMeester center free of charge.

"If they didn't help, there would be no way we could do this," Hartley said.

Preview

Funhouse Movement Theater's "Dance in the Park"

• Where: DeMeester Outdoor Performance Center at Reid Park.

• When: 7:30 tonight through Sunday.

• Cost: Free; 749-1221.