#studio dance

Mengyue Zhou

Tonight I went to see the studio dance in Krannert Center. It is a brand new type of dance performance I never get in touch with, so I feel it’s very fresh and attractive. The whole performance is divided into eight parts and these eight parts shows their great difference whatever in the style or the meaning of choreography.

I personally divided these eight performances into two parts by my own understanding of them. One type is multinational, which means it uses some tools or technology to make the whole performance become more integrity like two of them focus on the music and personal emotions in the performance. The other type is pure dancing without music or personal emotions.

One example of the first type gave me the deepest feeling about modern dance with team cooperation and emotions’ transition. Its name is Turn to Dust, choreographed by Skylee Trimble. This dance performance was showed by eight people and just in about ten minutes it told all audience a short story about the process dust gather together to become a strong foundation and in the end it must separate, turning into their original look---dust. This performance is the first one to pull all audience out from the previous monotonous and individual dancing performance. From the beginning, all eight dancers showed their strong dancing skills. All female dancers showed their body’s’ limpness as much as possible, a lot of highly difficulty movements like lifting which perfectly finished by two female dancers quite shock audience a lot. Then everybody is this team seems went through a hard part because everybody is different so there must a struggle to stay together. They started to change themselves to cater others and this is the most complicated part I think because from the start I didn't know what they are performing but I heard at this time the music started speed up I realized there must be some turning points happened. All the dancers started to pull each other and at the same time they showed their struggling faces so I deduce this. Finally, all dust stay together happily but in the end its time for them to spate, turning into dust. In the end the strongest piece of the foundation is left standing and the whole performance ended. One last thing I wanted to mention is that the choreographer chose very suitable music for this dance performance. The music is Turn to Dust from Ma Fleur by the Cinematic Orchestra featuring Patrick Wilson. The sharp contrast on the rhythm shocked me a lot and also I didn’t realize the climax of this song give me a lot of happiness. It makes feel very joyful and actually bring the whole performance energy.

The last performance named Micro Love also gives very deep feeling. It choreographed by Ming-Hsuan Szu- tu who is from Taiwan. This is my first time to watch an Asian choreographer’s performance which make me feel very proud because all the time Asian guy are being defined as nerd or geek. Her special choreography told audience although people have different body, have different cultural background and speak different language. They will meet and fall in love with each other, showing their specialty to attract each other. Why I like this performance because I think it told my words which is form the deepest part in my heart. Right now I live in a totally new country and meet a lot of strangers every day, speaking a language which is unfamiliar to me. Just because I experienced a period of similar life, I know the adventures must be very wonderful.

Disha Koul

On April 20th, I watched Studio Dance II at the Krannert Performing Arts Centre. In my opinion, compared to the last performance I watched, Phantom Limbs 69 S, this performance was much easier to follow and was more entertaining as a whole.

The first dance, Dinosaur Jesus Boom Boom Balloon, was performed by a single male. I can honestly say that the title of the dance was just as confusing after the performance as it was before the performance because the dance itself made no connection to the title. The dance itself was weird to me and my least favorite dance because there were lots of sharp movements and I really had no clear grasp of what was going on. Even though “The Oracle” was a one-man performance, it really captured my attention throughout because the dancer’s movements were engaging. In this dance however, the movements were too sharp and it gave the dance an overwhelming feel of urgency.

The second dance, Her Adored Reborn, was performed very well. The stage was used up evenly the bright colors really caught my attention. The three female dancers each did their own thing throughout the dance but then would dance together at certain parts of the performance. In my opinion, it fit the description of a typical choreographed performance where each dancer expresses her role in the dance by having their own part but making it a combined production by having pieces of dance in synchronization. All in all, it was pleasing to watch because the stage was brightly lit in such a way that kept my eyes and attention glued to the performance in front of me.

The third dance, Walking A Thin Line, reminded me a lot about the dance that I learn, Kathak Indian dance. I made this connection because Kathak is a story-telling dance in which the dancers attempt to recreate a story with their movements. Likewise, in Walking A Thin Line, the dancers utilized props and their voices to somehow articulate a story through their movements. It was more of an intellectual dance which can be compared to Phantom Limbs where there is a story connected to the performance. Even though I struggle to understand the exact story associated with this performance, it was interesting to watch and much different than the previous flashy performance full of bright colors.

The fourth dance, I Am Slowly Becoming My Mother, danced by choreographer of the first dance, was different because it was a very popular-sounding song. All of the other performances that I attended at the Krannert had music accompaniments that I had never heard of and were mature-sounding tracks. This dance was to an upbeat song and was interesting because of the music selection.

The fifth dance, Turn To Dust, was very graceful. Once again, I enjoyed it because it utilized the entire space of the stage like the second dance did. To me, when dancers utilize their space, it makes it seem like they are very comfortable with their surroundings and are not afraid to move freely and openly, and that makes the performance more appealing. There was a sense of tight knit unity during most of the dance and some breakage of that unity at other parts. The last scene was especially nice because the majority of the dancers were on the floor while a few were separating from the group. The scene was beautiful.

The sixth dance was a very fluid dance, and was supposed to represent the fluidity of a body of water. The dance was eerie in a sense and wasn’t really my favorite. The movements were slow and sulky.

The final dance was Micro Love and was my favorite. It had a wide variety of actions including arguing, running, chasing, and then picture-posing. I believe that the point of the performance was to highlight diversity and that people from different races and ideologies can bicker and fight but then in the end, we are all human and all have the same basic needs and rights. It was a very thought provoking performance and a perfect way to end the show.

Sarah Fahey

When buying my ticket, I thought that this performance would be similar to that of February dance. However, as soon as I walked into the studio theater, my expectations were dropped. Unlike the other performances I’ve been to, the audience for this show was much, much smaller. If I had to guess, I’d say the maximum capacity of the theater was about 100 people, but only 30 people or so were actually in the audience when I saw it. I think this set a totally different expectation and atmosphere for watching dance. For me, the lack of audience members limited distraction and really immersed me into the dances themselves and I felt as if I was able to better understand these dances than I have in previous shows. I thought this show had a good variety and was the perfect length- it kept me interested. Rather than talking about the performance as a whole, I’d like to focus on a few pieces as individual art works.

“Dinosaur Jesus boom boom balloon” was the first dance. Before the dance started, I thought it was interesting to note that this was choreographed by Nico Brown; however, Charles Gowin was the sole performer. He did not choreograph any of the other dances, nor does he have a blurb about him in the profiles section of the program. Anyways..

                I thought this dance was one of the more unique dances in the show. Unlike many of the others, I was not able to attach a story or specific meaning to this piece. That said I was able to make a few connections. When I first looked at the title, I was interested to see the dance itself and how the title fit it or gave it meaning. In the middle-ish of the dance, Charles was what I’ll call dancing heavy on his feet. His motions were rough and made loud noises as he took steps or landed from leaps and turns. I connected the pounding of his feet against the ground to the “boom boom” in the title. However, I did not attach a specific meaning. Towards the end, the made sweeping motions with his arm that looked to me as if he was opening a set of double doors, he then walked to the back of the stage and proceeded to walk through the imaginary doors to front, center where he then did some sort of pose and repeated the sequence- walking to the back, turning around walking back to the front and “posing.” I interpreted this as he was walking through a set of open doors and presenting himself. This made me think of the “Jesus” part of the title- was this supposed to be a representation of heavens doors opening for him to walk through and present himself to God?

I was able to make some connections between the dance itself and the title. However, when looking at the piece as whole the message or story was not as clear. What I concluded was that the randomness of the title matched the somewhat randomness of the choreography. The choreography included sliding and rolling around on the floor, elements of ballet-ish styles, leaps, spins, stomping, walking, running, and standing still. Furthermore, the dance started to the sound of background music (the sound of people in a hurry, moving around and talking). The noise then stopped and later soft and soothing music was on.  Ultimately I decided that the seemingly randomness/ variety of the choreography matched the unique and seemingly confusing title.

The last thing this performance brought up for me was 2 connections I was able to make to class and my experiences rather than to just the performance and the title. The first being the use of space. We’ve worked in class with the idea of really using the space you’re given and I think that this piece really did a good job of demonstrating what it looks like to fill and take up a space. The other thing I thought of while watching this was in relation to the music. Honestly I’m surprised it took me this long to make a connection or think of this. As I watched the parts without music, I wondered is the dancer doing each move to counts in his head or is he doing the motions without counts and rather to his own rhythm and feelings? Consequently, I decided that either were viable options, in which case it would depend on the music. Therefore, I wondered about when the sounds were cued. In high school I was on crew for some of the plays and musicals. In theater sounds and music or the orchestra are cued by the actor’s lines not by time. So I wondered if this was the same way. Was the music cued by a particular part in the choreography, in which case it was controlled almost completely by the dancer himself, or was it cued by time, in which case the piece would be controlled by the people in the sound booth.

The next dance I’d like to talk about was also choreographed by Nico Brown, who if anyone was wondering has a terrifically interesting mustache. This time he was not only the choreographer, but also the dancer. This was the 4th dance and was title “I am slowly becoming my mother”. I liked this piece. It was clear and easy to follow the story and it was funny.

                Like the title implies, this piece showed a transformation from a more aggressive and youthful character to a more gentle and slower figure like a mother. This story and transformation was achieved by contrasts. Nico started with quick, loud, aggressive movements and would quickly transfer to softer, slower motions. At one point, I remember him running to the front corner of the stage and acting as if he was punching a punching bag- a aggressive, physical, and very masculine activity. He then turned around, put his hands up and walked around slowing almost as if he was confused. I think this was a great example of the type of things he used throughout the performance to depict the transformation occurring throughout the dance. The other thing I really enjoyed was the juxt of position between a light orange background and no music to a blue background and the upbeat, song In da Club by 50 cent. Not only was this change cool to see but this moment also helped tell the story. Normally when you hear a song like that you wouldn't do minimal, slow movements like he did during this part. This also showed that maybe he was letting go of his youthful spirit and becoming more like his mother.

                The only question this dance brought up for me was what, if anything was he trying to say about gender roles through this dance? As a male choreographer and performer, he could have easily title the piece ‘I am slowly becoming my father,’ but he didn't.

Going back to the 3rd dance, “Walking a thin line” by Jazmyne Thomas I thought this dance also was easily to follow through contrasting movements or lack of movement. I thought it was easy to see the different feeling and emotions that one goes through each and every day through her work. I also thought she did something really cool with the lighting that made her piece all the better. The dace started of very dark, she was walking across the stage singing (side note: she has an incredible voice) “I can feel my heart beating faster.. can you feel it?” holding a lantern with a little light in it. Once she got to the opposite corner of the stage she set the lantern down and turned the light off. As she did so the background lighting slowing turned on. She did her dance. Then again at the end the lights started to fade back to darkness as she turned the lantern back on. I think that the slow fading of the light and the difference between light and darkness was really cool. It also clearly set the stage for her performance as it showed the difference between night and day.

                I also really like her costume for this piece. (Costume coordinator was Jess Gersz) She was wearing pink parachute-like pants and a orangeish-brownish-pinkish cropped tribal pattern top. I also noticed that her hair was died a orange-ish color which matched her costume. I don’t know if that was planned or not but it added to her costume and looked cool. All in all, I thought Jazmyne did a really great job with this piece.

The last performance I’d like to talk about was the 5th dance- “Turn to Dust.” It was choreographed by Skylee Trimble and one 1 of 3 dances that featured multiple dancers. I think I’m going to have to say that this dance was my favorite for a few reasons. Not in a particular order, but the first being it was what I will deem a “traditional dance” meaning it was to Turn to Dust from Ma Fleur by the Cinematic Orchestra featuring Patrick Wilson through the entire performance and the motions matched the tempo of the song. It also contained parts of synchronized dancing which many of the past performances I’ve seen for this class did not necessarily have. The second reason I loved their costumes. The dance was made up of 7 girls and one boy. All of the girls were wearing white lace dresses and Thomas was wearing black pants. While I cannot say for certain that it was planned this way, I think it was interesting to note that all of the girls were Caucasian and wearing white and Thomas was African-American and wearing black. While it may not have been intentional when picking the dancers for this piece, I find it very hard to believe that the costume choice was purely a coincidence. Throughout the piece, I was trying to find a correlation between gender/ race and the message or meaning of the dance. I did not find anything. However, I did find a very clear and relateable story which was the third reason I think that this was my favorite.