Students choreograph, perform for Spring Dance Concert
By Michelle Davey, Staff Writer
May 22, 2008 | 8 p.m.
Gracefully leaping and spinning across the stage, the students, faculty and guests who dance and choreograph for the annual School of Dance Spring Concert might make their movements look effortless. However, hours of hard work and dedication are required of these performers, said Madeleine Scott, director of the Ohio University School of Dance.
The concert is being performed at 8 p.m. May 22, 29 and 30 in the Shirley Wimmer Theatre in Putnam Hall. The concert includes 10 dances, several of which were choreographed by students. Faculty and guest artists choreographed other pieces. Performers include dance students and faculty.
For each minute of every piece, the dancers and choreographers must labor for 10 hours, Scott said. Adding in the lighting, costume design and other elements, it jumps to 15 hours of work for each minute.
The long hours and commitment are expected of dance students, Scott said. “It’s very much like any other performance-based field,” she said. “It’s really a part of what you are expected to demonstrate in order to graduate.”
Even for a previously performed piece, the work load is the same. Jean Erdman’s “Suite of Three,” for example, was originally choreographed and performed in the 1940s. Erdman’s piece was staged for the concert by Nancy Allison, a distinguished alumna and leading interpreter of Erdman’s work. Although the movements are already choreographed, the student’s learning the performance takes the same amount of work as a new piece, Scott said.
The School of Dance produces between six and nine concerts each year, and many students perform in more than one, Scott said. A tremendous amount of the school’s curriculum is devoted to performance experience. Some students receive grades for their work, while others might only receive credit -- but everyone gets feedback, she said.
Of the pieces featured in this year’s concert, many easily tug at a viewer’s heartstrings. Student choreographer Megan Payne’s piece “I Woke Up and Smelled Burning Wires,” for example, portrays the back-and-forth many experience in a romantic relationship. Dancers Brant Leverick and Jesse Keller seem to be annoyed with each other, but just as equally in love with each other, as they dance side-by-side.
In contrast, Nicole Angelic Bryant’s choreography for “Secrets Unshared” causes a dilemma for the audience. In the two previous pieces, the dimmed lights and quiet dancers encourage the audience to remain hushed. But as Emily Nagel, Luisa Martinez and Jessica Deats wiggle onto the stage smiling and snapping their fingers, it becomes difficult not to laugh with them. Do not worry about offending, though. The dancers clearly are having a good time in this piece.
“Ne Me Quitte Pas,” a piece choreographed by Associate Professor of Dance Travis Gatling, is shown on a projection screen. The piece, which is performed by Gatling, was filmed and cut together using different angles and editing techniques. The video gives Gatling a way to show his choreography from the floor or the ceiling, but the audience loses the human presence, making it more difficult to connect with the performance.
The concert ends with a dance choreographed by guest artist Jessica Fox, an OU alumna as well as founder and director of the Jeslyn Performing Arts Center and Jeslyn Dance Gallery. Her piece, “The Higher the Jump Suit…” uses eight dancers who humorously mimic the movements of Elvis Presley to some of his music adapted and played by The Kronos Quartet.
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The Spring Dance Concert will be held at 8 p.m. May 22, 29 and 30 in the Shirley Wimmer Theatre in Putnam Hall. Tickets are free for Ohio University students and $8 for general admission, and tickets can be purchased at the door.