Imbalance Dance Theme

The Repertory Dance Company Fall Dance Concert was held at the Mannoni Performing Arts Center. The dancers involved in this dance concert are part of the University of Southern Mississippi Dance Department meaning they are either pursuing a degree in dance or teach dance at a university level. Both students and faculty had the opportunity to present work during adjudication to be chosen to be presented at this concert. I particularly enjoyed this concert because, while all of the dances presented were a part of the broad genre of modern dance, each dance had such a unique aesthetic so the concert still provided a great amount of variety to keep the audience captivated. The two pieces I have chosen to review represent this variety very

The choreographic intention of “Emergence” was the exploration of merging diverse elements together to see what comes from it, like the emergence in relation to arrangements and structures made in nature. The choreographic intention expanded from the idea of concealment. This was clearly identified in the beginning trio where the female dancer is shown trying to escape from her hiding place. In appraisal, the choreographic intention of “Image” was a more simplistic interpretation, one that explored identity and how it is made up of personal experiences we endure and that along the way we are influenced and sometimes inveigled, which can make revealing who we really are at the core oppressive. In comparison to “Emergence”, the movement in “Image” was more vague and indefinite in relation to linking movement to the choreographic intention. Through manipulation of structural devices such as groupings, stillness, tempo and dynamics, the

The dance that I will be focusing on is entitled: thinking sensing standing feeling object of attention. The dance, to me, symbolizes the socialization of persons in Western civilization concerning gender roles. In the beginning there are gestures that are separated from emotion and full-embodiment, but as the dance progresses the gestures become more meaningful and recognizable. The lighting starts out very specific and narrow, then the light encompasses the entire stage, and eventually the dancers are silhouetted as they return to a familiar movement motif in the end. The music is mainly instrumental with occasional soft female vocals, and the lyrics suggest emotion, which is interesting because the dancers do not convey emotion until

The third section of Duato’s work is performed by the female dancers. They represent the emotive response to the hardship of working and living on a poverty stricken land.

Watching a video of a dance piece called “The Moroccan Project,” choreographed by Alonzo King was quite impressive. Living in San Francisco and taking dance classes brought me to Lines Ballet which is King’s dance studio. I have seen a great deal of different types of dance at the studio waiting for my Ballet classes and there are some great dancers. It comes as no surprise that Alonzo would have such great dancers. It appears that Alonzo King is exploring different cultures in dance in Contemporary Ballet. His near-perfect choreography is articulate, passionate, and graceful- he brings diversity in dance to San Francisco and other parts of the world. This piece articulates the expression of the two dancers coming together yet dancing apart at times- it is a fusion of several different types of dances into one using video editing to create a story about the coming together of two individuals.

The male dancer only wore pants and bared his upper body. This simple costume design not only made the people who watch the dance to have a clear vision of the dancer, but also better presented a predicament that the character was experiencing at that time. At the first half of the dance, the dancer would leave at least one part of his body on the bench, and tried hard to reach other parts of his body away. This muscular interplay between the dancer and the bench resonated with the audience to experiencing the same struggle feelings as the character. As the performance developed, the dancer started to leave the bench to fully use the space. The dancer had many different movements comparing with sitting on the bench previously. He started to lie down, roll over, stand on the bench and make a turn use only one foot. The level of the dance was no longer limited in the middle but changing from low to high as well. Having such a change, the dancer is converting a more delight and energetic feeling to the audience, in order to demonstrated that the character was recovered through the

Mauro Bigonzetti choreographed the first performance, Deep. This contemporary piece infused African influences that focused on togetherness of the human community. As the dancers brought their arms and legs together in a crossing shape towards their hearts, they expressed love and togetherness. Also, the angular movements with a contrast between sharp and smooth complimented the effortless lifts and breathtaking moments that made the audience wonder how they execute such strength and grace. Also, the choreographer’s use of modern music with a twist of African influences was a great mesh between tradition and modern day.

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

The next minute the man pushed with his legs the woman as they were getting into an argument. The music “God Help the Girl” complimented the dance with its quick beat. Another interesting part of the dance was when the two dancers sat around the table as most people in the world do during dinner time. Moreover, the man put his legs on the table and as he was waiting for dinner to be served. This reminded me of how many cultures around the world are patriarchy oriented where the men are the bread makers and the women’s role is to take care of the children and all the house work. However, the woman’s costume was a representation of how women in the twenty-first century have grown to become career and goal oriented and not settling for the “Homemaker” position that society is used to. Another interesting part of the dance “Folie a’Deux” reminded me of something I learned in Dance 1010 class and it was a dance similar to the Lindy Hop. The duet came to the front of the stage, between the table and the couch, very close to each other and started hopping and moving very quickly. However, their upper bodies were also moving and their arms were flopping back-and-fourth. Overall, the dance moves were concentrated in the middle and upper space. Their bodies were straight while stepping heavy on the floor turned towards the audience. The dancers made eye contact with the public but also

Dance is explored in a sacred way on the pages of Winton-Henry’s book. This essay identifies the author’s intent for the work as well as summarizes the key points made about the role dance serves in our lives and how to incorporate

For the dance piece called "Country Dances". The utilization of space was wide because the dancers were moving around the entire stage. However, they were mostly in the center of the stage so all the audiences in the room could see them better. The timing and rhythm of this piece were perfect. The movements the dancers make were all synchronized along with the music. It was like the song was made for that specific piece. The use of movement qualities and dynamics convey feeling and tone to the audience were smooth. It gives the audience a relaxing and peaceful feeling to watch and enjoy the piece. Not to mention, the production elements such as lights, costumes, and music were important to this piece. The lights were warm and bright which gave the audiences a feeling of the old days where it was peaceful and fun. The costumes were a mixture of warm and cool colors because there are dancers wore light green dress while some other female dancers who wore light orange dress. The music peaceful and matched the mood for the piece

This piece was choreographed by Steven Rosa. The music that were used for this piece was a combination of three songs; the first song was by Vishal Dadlani, the second one was just a music by Shekhar Ravjiani, and the last one was a song by Daler Mehndi. This performance piece represented the Indian traditional dance. It was performed by twelve dancers including two boys and ten girls. They were divided in four teams, each team had a different color for their costume. This dance got the audience attention from the first minute they started to perform on the stage. One of the thing that grabbed the audience attention was the colorful customs that the dancers used for this specific dance. The dancers danced in-groups as well as in-lines. Also they were really organized on the stage. Appropriately, the dancers displayed synchronized and athletic movements with lots of Indian traditional dance movement. The repetitive beating of the drum in the background music helped to portray the momentum and the energy. The dancers tended to change the look of their customs while they dancing which created the feeling of watching multiple dances in one. The dancers were well communicate very well with each other and communicate very well with the audience as a group. This helped the dance to come out really interesting. The ending of the dance was so positive and appropriate finish. Overall, this dance was one of the best

The choreography in this film is very well known and it still precedes itself today through its dance numbers, tiresome tap dancing and a range of vocals. There are many different conventions and dance segments to see during this fantastic film. One of the more romantic dance sequence, ‘You Were Meant For Me’, shows the shyness in

The movements were very specific and showed the story of the dance. The partners used many movements that contained many body

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