Student
Dance Show Masters More than Movement
by Emily Strout
This
years annual Spring Back student dance concert was a technically
diverse and ambitious show that tried to master more than just movement.
Held in Warner last weekend, the performance consisted of five pieces
choreographed by students and two pieces choreographed by faculty.
The show opened with junior Laura Daughertys solo, Unbound.
It was an exploration of ballet, specifically emphasizing the pointe
shoe that painful yet beautiful shoe that allows ballerinas
to stand on their toes. Daugherty made different sounds with her
pointe shoes on the floor and walls, rebelling against the ballet
practice of being as silent as possible. She also challenged herself
by trying positions that are rare in traditional ballet, and used
her upper body much more than is usual. It was wonderful to see
old techniques explored in such new ways.
Endymion was a collaboration between senior choreographer
Loren Groenendaal and senior composer James Blachly. The piece was
inspired by a Greek myth about the eternal, ever-yearning
love between the moon and the water. The size of the piece
was in itself impressive consisting of seven dancers as well
as more than twenty singers.
The dramatic and intricate music combined with the soft blue lighting
to transform Warner Main into a different world. But the dancing
seemed too simple compared with the music.
This was in an effort to signify the sacred mood that we see
within the relationship of the ocean and the moon, Groenendaal
said.
When asked about the collaboration, Blatchly said, I am honored
to have been afforded this opportunity to work with this dance department
that I have admired from afar.
Looking for Loie was choreographed and performed by
Professor Ann Cooper Albright. Cooper Albright wrote in the program
that her dance is the beginning of a book project on turn-of-the-century
dancer Loie Fuller. Cooper Albright performed a solo to a
recording in which she compared Fuller to herself. An audience member
observed after the show that [Cooper Albright] mentioned how
she was moving from language into dance, but shes
so obviously stuck in language.
Falling off of Apogee, choreographed by senior Jenny
Sawyer, was inspired by contact improvisation a dance form
often difficult to perform because its philosophy is centered on
participation. Sawyer had clearly struggled with this dilemma and
produced a piece that was choreographed instead of improvised. The
performance was somewhat limited by using only contact improv vocabulary,
but the combination of the music and the energy of the dancers made
it generally delightful to watch. Sophomore dancer Julia Smith said:
This piece is not really about very specifically placed movement,
its about a group energy
a feeling of coming together.
Beyond the Periphery, a duet choreographed by junior
Asheley Smith, was one of the few pieces in the program about dance
and nothing more. The style was jazz-tinged and consisted of several
sequences of movement performed in synch by the two dancers. Dancers
Daugherty and junior Corena Gamble created an interesting tension
by never dancing together and barely acknowledging each others
presence.
Lucid, a gorgeous video created by senior Mary Moran
in which Moran and senior Irene Akio enact a dance/story, left many
audiences members wanting more. Its unusual shooting angles and
changing color saturations gave it a dreamlike quality. Lucid
is about an interaction and connection between two women who have
never met, Akio said.
Body of Knowledge, the final piece in the program, was
choreographed by Professor Nusha Martynuk. It dealt with the conflict
between conceptualizing dance and just dancing. Professor Roger
Copeland satirized a dance critic, talking about the pre-colonization,
post-colonization, de-colonization, and re-colonization of
the body in dance, while the six ODC dancers cut him off with dance.
Body of Knowledge ended with the striking image of all
six dancers about to speak but choosing not to, allowing the dance
to speak for itself. It was an appropriate finish to a concert that
focused more on theories and concepts than actual movement.
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