The 2017 Spring Works Dance Concert, presented by Purdue’s Contemporary Dance Company, displayed various dance pieces that had diverse choreographic structures and appeared to be created from compositional processes that were very similar to the processes we explored in class. All of the choreographers in this concert exhibited their own works through exclusive compositional tools. For example, in the work “Unlocking Energy”, choreographed by Mary Beth Van Dyke, the sustained arm movements initiated throughout her piece appeared to glide from one motion to the next with ease. The arm movements in this piece differed considerably when compared to the hand gestures in “12th Drowned”, choreographed by Kathleen Hickey. The hand gestures in “12th …show more content…
The dancers moved continuously in a waltz fashion corresponding with the music used in certain parts of the piece, and they consistently displayed balletic movement, as well as quick and direct bourrees, with flicking hand motions, that expressed the movers’ power and presence on the stage. Similarly, the dancers displayed multiple kicking movements when the sound of the piece became more abstract, which further addressed the power and wealth the dancers exhibited. Overall, the movement vocabulary of “State of Affairs” had an outpouring quality which was expressed with Laban direct efforts articulated in stabbing, dabbing, driving, slashing, and flicking movements. It was also expressed through the dancers’ smiling faces which broke the fourth wall and addressed the audience. Additionally, throughout the piece, the dancers also steadily utilized jumps which in a way paralleled the flicking hand motion presented in the bourrees. Furthermore, “State of Affairs’ ” choreographic structure paralleled that of a journey because the dancers developed throughout the piece, and the audience went somewhere new as the end of the piece neared. For example, at the end of the piece, not only did the dancers begin to move as individuals but they also changed their vests from the black and white to colors such as blue, pink, and purple. No longer were …show more content…
For example, the unique production elements, such as: white wigs and upstage lighting, enabled the audience to immediately become engrossed in the dark meaning of the piece. Additionally, the compositional tools such as: even phrasing, and fast tempos displayed throughout the piece, made the overall energy of “State of Affairs” elevated. At times, it appeared, that even during the parts of the movements that contrasted with the music, the audience could not look away from the dancers’ movements. Without any one of these elements, I believe the piece could be understood in a very different way, which is not bad but is also not supportive of what the work is trying to portray overall. Ultimately, Carol Cunningham-Sigman’s piece, as well as the rest of the pieces in the concert, made the 2017 Spring Works Dance Concert, a hard concert to
The two live dance works viewed this year were “Emergence”, performed by Sydney Dance Company, choreographed by Rafael Bonachela, performed at the Princess Theatre and a recorded dance performance titled “Image”, choreographed by Jason Northam and Liesel Link. The two dance performances substantiated were exceedingly diverse and dissimilar. The two performances juxtaposed their intentions and interpreted opposing elements through diversity in movement vocabulary, structural devices and form, performance skills and technical elements.
The space, time and usage of dynamics were powerful yet elegant-elements that added to the overall quality and tone of the work. The solo dancer used her body to perform various movements with specific ranges of motion, showing her ability to control, express and properly connect to the audience through her performance. In this performance, there seems to be a spiritual side when the dancer, Marilyn Banks, sits on the bench and starts to swing her arms in wide semi-circles to show looks of anguish and despair. Ms. Banks also varied movement by quivering her hands-movements such as a shaking or slight trembling with her hands when reaching outwards. She also used a lot of ornamentation or embellishment through her movements. Her body and her path of movement embellished her gestures since she was performing spins across the stage.
The melody sounds somber and serious and the energy of the dancers suddenly changes. A spoken word takes place and all of the dancer begin to tell their stories of pain and struggle through movements. The spoken word talks about the journey of men and women who overcame social injustice. In the dancer's movements you could clearly see how they correlated together. Movements were powerful and restraint at the same time giving the audience the idea of the women were pushing through something that was bearing them down. There was a lot of expansion in the chest, back, and arms followed by contractions in the body. As soon as the spoken word was finished the mood of the piece change again and the pianist began to play a upbeat tune that brought the dancers back in to a more positive and high spirit. A lot of polyrhythms take place as the dancers jump high and move their arms back and forth moving throughout the space. This happens in unison at first and then solos, trios, and duets happen in this section of the dance. The expression on their faces add charismatic charm to this piece. Their expressions continue to move them into different emotions and feelings that are relatable to everyday
Last week was such an amazing experience! I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to dance with all my wonderful 4th period friends and take part in the Fall Show, “Subsequent”, with the rest of the BHS Dancers (including my wonderful big, Lindsey)! I’m really proud of how the dance department did as a whole. I love dancing at Brookwood High School because it’s so different than the strict ballet setting that I’m used to at my studio. It is also very special to be part of something at my school. As a Sugarloaf Ballet Company Dancer, I’ve not had this experience before. Dance has always been separate from my school. It is so exciting to be able to say that I dance for Ms. Ellen at Brookwood High School.
The Faculty Dance Concert was an entertaining event filled with a variety of dance styles. The show took place on Friday, November 6, 2015, at 7:30 in the evening, and was held in the Fullerton College Campus Theatre. The founding artistic director is Melanie Kay Rosa and the assistant artistic director is Lisa M. Anderson. The dance faculty choreographers are Lisa M. Anderson, Sarah Cashmore, Teresa Jankovic, and Melanie Kay Rosa. The four guest choreographers are Helen Gardea, Robert Laos, Devon Smith and Shawnee Amara Williams. The two student choreographers are Ashely Garcia and Madeline Young.
The audience then became lost and frightened as there were no signs leading them to their next destination, once again forcing them to partake in the performance. This physicalisation not only successfully involved the contemporary audience, but demonstrated the necessity of physical composition to give audiences that real experience. This use of physical composition provided immediate reaction and emotional expression through action and contrast. These elements ultimately enhanced the mood and symbolism of the performance, allowing audiences to not only partake in the production on an intimate level but also on an emotional level. Another way in which mood and symbol can be created is through the use of complicité.
In the third section Ms. Donna Wood looks like an African goddess and her body has an unexpected gracefulness. Even stage color was bright reddish, warm atmosphere around the dancer, like a sunrise in the morning. Stage would fill with colors. Music and performer are singing together. A sound of music tempo gets faster. She has the happiest face ever, no pain and no slavery. She jumps, she swings her leg and arms, and even she pulls her dress up and shows her leg an entire dance. Sound and lightening create the environment and good mood. She uses high level of dance than in previous two sections. She moves in between melody. I liked how she uses
Much of our exploration of dance improvisation involved delving into the eight movement “efforts” that Rudolf Laban developed, and these eight effort qualities can be categorized into four different groups: direction, weight, speed, and flow. For direction, movements can either be direct, which means there is intention and thought before every movement, or indirect, where the direction of one movement does not necessarily correspond to that of the next. For weight, movements can be either heavy, which can often be visible or the weight of the limbs and the awareness of gravity and the floor, or light, where a sensation of weightlessness or floating is often used. For speed, movements can either be quick, where movements rapidly progress from one to the next, or slow, where the urgency of time is neglected. For flow, movements can be either bound, where there is a sense of an imaginary outside force acting
The female dancer re-enters the stage sans the blue shirt/shorts and repeats the gestures with a bit more feeling, and the male does the same thing after the female exits. The next time the female enters the stage, she is only in the colorful bra and black briefs. The male enters the stage in a black bra and colorful underwear. The color in the costumes sends a message of the differences between males and females, but the black undergarments lean towards blurring the lines of gender. The lights get brighter as clothing is shed. The two performers fully embody the gestures now, and seem to have more of an intimate connection with one another. The music constantly seems to be an underscore of the dance, but does not add much to it. The dancers share weigh and partner with more sensuality, and eventually are silhouetted with blue light as they return to gesture and awkward ballroom partnering. The lights fade as they continue to move.
When I saw the piece, named, “Lapa’s Lament, I thought it was very unique and interesting. When the dancers were doing several movements with it, I got very confused. As a result, this confusion caused me to draw all the attention towards the dancer and to their performance. After a dance progresses, dancers were trying to tell a story with their movements. I think some of the dance movements, they were doing was very fascinating to watch. As a result, I was trying to make the whole story in my mind, as it was very unclear for me, what they were doing, but when Randy James came and talk little bit about the dance, I would able to understand what the dance is about. The way his dancers performed by showing their emotions, I thought it was incredibly performed. I felt that this dance was not losing its limelight throughout the performance. That is, the way they were communicating with each other through their body language and physical contact was just amazing. It shows their effort, as the dance steps included twisting and tumbling. Some of the dance steps, I have never saw in any of the dance companies who came to performed. I felt the dance was full of body movements, and I thought it would require a lot of physical strength to perform this kind of
On Thursday April 25, 2013 , I attended a jazz vocal concert at the Music Concert Hall. The first vocal ensemble opened up the performance with a slow rhythmic song called Blue Skies. It began with vocals and I noticed a light auxiliary percussion and drum rhythm. Also, the bass guitarist used walking bass and the piano and electric guitar joined in as well. The first song also consisted of two soloist Regina and Chantel who took the front stage to show off their chops. After the solo performances they fell back into the vocal sections and finished off the song as a complete band. The second performance had a piano opening which led to vocals joining in at the same time as the rhythm section. This performance
On December 1, 2017, in the University Theatre at California State University, Dominguez Hills, I observed the fall dance concert Rise. It was choreographed by Amy Michelle Allen, Marco A, Carreon, Sarah Cashmore, Jeff Hendrix, Erin Landry, Doris Ressl Acosta, and Kenneth Walker, with the long cast of dancers. The production was pleasing, and would not have been believable without the work from production designers, Frederick Depontee and Cheryl Sheldon. Rise is played out in eight different dance routines, which were Xtra Xtra, Scar Tissue, Hart Broken, Things Are A Stirrin’, and the rest are intermissions such as Female Energy, Women, Exotica, Strength In Numbers, and Makina.
A series of set of movements to music, either alone or with a partner. That is the definition of dancing. Dancing is a way to express one's feeling and to get active.
For my second concert report I thought that I would write about my only experience hearing songs of the Beatles live. The Rib America Festival was hosted by The Beatles Live Repertoire. The group dressed exactly like the Beatles, even had the same names, John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I had never heard any Beatles songs live before, so that was enough to get me off my butt. Not to mention, it was free entertainment, not a bad time at all.
This afternoon, I went to the music concert hall where is located in the music building for the listening hour, a small noon-time concert which is performed by the staff and students from the music majors. Since it is a free noon-time concert, most of the audiences just wear the t-shirts and jeans to the concert. Dresses are not required for the concert. The performance today is given by the Ananda Jazz Ensemble. They have played “Running Away”, composed by Bob Marley; “Madalena”, composed by Ivan Linz; “Conejitos y Ananda”, composed by Abi Romero; “La Bikina”, composed by Ruben Fuentes; and “Chukaro”, also composed by Abi Romero. Because this is a Latin Americdan Journey, all of the music performed is jazz music. All pieces played in the concert are an ensemble of piano, bass, and drums. During the concert, I was trying to be a perceptive listener; I enjoyed the music with concentration and paid attention to the music’s unity and variety, such as the dynamics and tempos. I also tried to associate the music with a picture when I listened to it and understand the emotion in the music.