Doherty, along with Martha Brim, associate professor of dance at Columbia College in Columbia, S.C., will present an informal evening of dance duets, solos and scripted dialogue that, according to Doherty, they "have been working on for 20 years . . . but actually put together this summer."
Brim and Doherty (AKA Mertle and Gertrude) met in 1975 as dance majors at Florida State University, and the two-person show is very reflective of their relationship and their friendship. For the past 20 years, the two have maintained contact and shared hours of commiseration over the trials and tribulations of being dancers, and the program focuses on their love-hate relationship with dance, with an underlying theme of friendship. "I'm the one who hates it," said Doherty. "She's the one who tolerates my wailing and carrying on all these years."
"It's not dance or dancers," said Doherty, who has worked both as a dance professional and as a dance educator. "It's the lifestyle. I have a harder time living with it than she does. There's a lot of turmoil in the dance world. There's not a lot of security, and there's a certain amount of obsession in it and craziness that makes me feel unsettled. Martha, throughout the evening, as I tell her what I don't like about it, reassures me, and then we do a dance that illustrates that fact."
In the dance world, there is "an objectification of the body," said Doherty, "a sense of not feeling integrated with yourself. In dance, your body is the instrument you have to deal with -- it's never what you want it to be."
The evening's dialogue is interspersed with humor, such as one episode that Doherty describes as typical of their relationship: "One night we were at a dance conference together, and we were up very late. We had decided we would collaborate on something. I was telling her all my woes about dance, and she turned to me and said, `Oh, shut up, Gayle,' and we just cracked up."
In the evening's dialogue, said Doherty, "Martha brings out all the good things and helps me find balance. The theme at the end is our friendship and how all of us can find some support through our friends."
The concert, which is supported in part by the University Research Committee, will be held at 8 p.m. in the Williams Gymnasium Dance Studio on the Oxford campus. Admission is free but seating is limited, so reservations are advised. For more information or to make reservations, call Gayle Doherty at 784-8371.
-- Nancy M. Spitler