It has all the elements of the horror genre — exorcism, werewolves and camping trips gone bad — but you won’t watch “BloodyVox: Deadline October” through your fingers or behind the seat.
In fact, you’re more likely to laugh than run and scream.
The spooky dance theater experience directed by Emmy Award-winning choreographers Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland stages Oct. 27 at the Edmonds Center for the Arts.
“BloodyVox” unfolds through a series of creepy, hilarious, abstract, ironic and satirical vignettes that draw from horror films, folklore and Halloween.
“If anything is creepy, it’s always in the service of humor,” Hampton said. “There’s nothing that’s really intended to scare people.”
The opening act, called “Victorian Secrets,” begins with six dancers who emerge from a shroud of haze wearing Victorian-era clothing. What happens next is loosely based on the 1973 horror film, “The Exorcist,” with a family friendly twist.
Another piece was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 horror-thriller film “The Birds.” But instead of attacking birds, dancers dressed as vultures flock around the stage performing strange synchronized movements.
“Each one of these sections throughout the evening starts with a kernel of an idea,” Hampton said. “Then we ask, ‘What can we do to fill in a backstory and to make this entertaining?’”
“BloodyVox” is one of the most distinctive shows produced by Hampton and Roland’s dance company, BodyVox, which was inspired by their love for Halloween and horror films.
“We draw from Hitchock, old werewolf movies and the horror genre before it got graphic,” Hampton said.
The married couple founded BodyVox in 1997 in Portland, Oregon. Hampton and Roland had previously won Emmy Awards in 1989 for their performances in the Los Angeles KCET television production, “EpISOdes,” made by their former dance company, ISO, an acronym for “I’m So Optimistic.”
BodyVox has become known for its combination of dance, theater and film through off-kilter performances that tell stories through the human body in motion.
Over the past two decades, BodyVox has toured the world and produced nine award-winning films, 30 original shows, three operas and more than 200 original dances.
This year marks the sixth incarnation of “BloodyVox,” which features nine dancers ranging from 22 to 64 years old. Hampton, 64, and Roland, 54, also will take part in the show as recurring characters in a three-part series called “Nightmare in the Northwest.”
In addition to the previously mentioned Halloween fare, there will also be ghosts, zombies, vampires and the creepy, interracial conjoined twins, George and George, inspired by Flora and Fauna from the fictional household of “The Addams Family.”
A variety of music will accompany each of the short dances, including tunes by electronic producer Aphex Twin, rock band Los Lobos and jazz band Sex Mob.
“The music is so important,” Hampton said. “It’s the air we breathe. You can have the best dances and the most incredible lighting, but if the music sucks, it ruins it. We spend an incredible amount of time creating the best music path for people to follow. Every musical choice is designed to take the audience into a different frame of mind.”
The evening kicks off with a Halloween costume happy hour open for all ages from 6 to 7 p.m. Drinks are $5, while there will also be candy, a haunted selfie-station and enter-to-win contests.
Evan Thompson: 360-544-2999, ethompson@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @ByEvanThompson.
If you go
What: “BloodyVox: Deadline October”
Where: Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 4th Ave. N., Edmonds
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27
Tickets: $19 to $44 for adults, $15 for youth/student and 10 percent discount for seniors and military
More: Call 425-275-9595, www.ec4arts.org and www.bodyvox.com
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