Santa Ana Dance Critique

Some of the movements executed by the dancers are similar to those executed by dancers in a stepping performance and also in a tap dance presentation. This presentation falls into the group of the new trends of modern dance, in which the choreographer are taking more and more liberty with various dance combinations, and including strong messages in their work. I would definitely attend other dance performance, not only from this company, but also by other companies; and would also recommend this performance, especially to people going through a dark period in their life. This performance finished convincing me that dance is surely the most communicative of the art forms, and that a single presentation can convey more than one

This was particularly exciting because the music was written and sung by Beyonce, a majority favorite. However, the costumes lacked coordination and seemed put together very last minute. Although, the purple and red vests did match the lighting which added a unique touch. The dance moves were fun and upbeat which allowed for the audience to enjoy themselves and experience the joy the dancers expressed. The dance truly attempted and succeeded at displaying the true spirit of Beyonce. Also, the dance moves seemed to have been carefully planned out to their fullest potential. The originality of the dance was exceptional which was one of the many components that cultivated its excellent

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

My immediate response to the whole performance was astonishment. When I say astonishment I mean that the whole show was like nothing I’ve seen before. I would call the Dance Theatre of Harlem more of a modern ballet instead of classic like Cinderella or The Nutcracker. It was interesting to see how ballet is interpreted by a different company such as the Harlem Theatre of Harlem. I

It had a visible rhythm. The dancers started with just using the walls and dancing with the walls. They dropped them to the floor, slid them into different spots, let the walls fall on the them, and passed them to each other. Then they started to tell the story. Throughout the dance there was unison dancing, non unison dancing, duets with partnering, trios, and quartets. There was a lot of pedestrian movement especially walking. A lot of the transitioning locomotor movement was walking or running. There was lot of small little movements with the hands and fingers and that was the only body part they were moving. They did movements like opening up the hand slowly, twisting one finger, and tapping one finger. Some of the movements were very literal, and visibly went along with the words in the story. Other movements were not literal; they were very abstract. One literal movement happened during the part in the story when the one daughter died from the failed abortion. One female dancer touched her stomach as if it was in pain. There was also contrasting movement. While one or two dancers were doing more complex movement phrases the other dancers were doing simple movements like walking or were in stillness. The partnering was untraditional and included weight sharing. The females lifted the males sometimes which is unusual. For example, there was one lift where the female dancer lifted the male dancer onto her back while she had the microphone in her hand and was talking. Her voice did not change one bit either. Different choreographic elements were used. One that was used a lot was repetition. The end of the dance had more of a distinct rhythm than the beginning, and was lighter. The first part was more heavy looking due to all the sadness. It ended with the dancers holding their hands in a

The overall time and energy of the dance is what I will be discussing next. The time of the piece, it seemed to have a certain pulse to start with. The beat of the music gave the dancers a pulse to listen for to move positions. The overall energy of this dance was sharp and the weight was strength because it was an impact and most of the dancers were pushing to been seen (not literally but usually). Lastly the energy flow was bound because it was whoever the spot light was on is who held all the

The pathways used by the dancers were very remedial. The direction of the movement always seemed to move upstage right then back down to downstage left. The speed of not just the movement of the dancers, but the whole play in general was high beat and high tempo as well as some parts becoming super dramatic. The rhythmic patterns of the material performed were to a beat while being sung. There was a pulse in every song the dancers/actors were executing. But, there was not one off beat movement or part, that I could notice anyways, throughout the production. The overall piece of the performance was marvelous, I enjoyed sitting and watching. My favorite thing about this play was that the actors actually interacted with the crowd and didn’t just treat the audience like they weren’t there. I think that the director/choreographer was trying to put the message of it doesn’t matter what you look like, as long as you can act/dance/perform to the best of your abilities. Also, the performance was well put together and obviously had some time put into

The concern is fascinating. It is so beautiful to watch. I really enjoyed the concern. In the concern, I said “Awesome! Beautiful and good job guys” so many times. I appreciate choreographers, people who take care of music, sound effects, costume designer, and all dancers to give a fantastic concern for audiences. Each dance represents its meaning and messages that dancers want to communicate with audiences. For example, in “Rain Goddess”, I saw the eight birds are flying through raining on the ocean. I saw light rain, heavy rain, and heavy wind on the ocean. It was fantastic that by dancing, performers can bring audiences to the ocean and feel everything that dancers feel. I also love “The spell”, dancers look like angels. I saw purity, innocent,

On September 10th, I had the pleasure of attending the Shapiro and Smith Dance. The performance was a series of different dance numbers that used different elements of sound and movements to promote their ideas.

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

Through out the performances they give each other their weight easily without any trust issues. Another things seen are how the choreographer has a vision in his head, and he clearly imagines it to bring it out with these dancers. If I was the dancer I would have no clue what I was doing, but they clearly caught a connection and understood what the choreographer wanted in the end. I also thought it was interesting how quick they picked what McGregor was saying. He was telling each of the dancers how to move, where exactly their hands and body should go. They weren’t even thinking and right away it was possible. In our single class alone I was struggling to do a single letter of someone’s name correctly. Also the grace they took with it, each move so beautifully done. Although I am not a dancer, I learned that dancing is not as easy as it seems and contains a lot of thinking. I thought it was more a free experience, but learning I need to come into class with more of an open mind but ready to

As someone else here commented, it seemed muddled. Some of the non-balletic steps, the stepping out of ballet position when walking, the Man sitting with his back to the audience, didn't work for me. And yet, the tone and the angst of the piece were conveyed, and I felt the personal connection between choreographer and feeling he expressed. The choreography was hit or miss, with some exciting dancing, especially from the male version of the corps--so much energy. Two standout dancers were Cassandra Trenary and Jeffrey Cirio. So fluid and expressive, she conveyed the sorrow of a woman in unrequited love. I hope to see her in many more roles. Cirio is a passionate powerhouse, so invested in his character, he exuded joy and lit up the house. Wow! Unfortunately, I did not find Cory Stearns wholly satisfactory in this role. He did not seem to inhabit the character as I would have liked to see him. But thank you, Marcelo, for this piece. I hope to see more of your

The first dance piece, “Do You Love Me”, was a fun way to start the concert. The song was a great choice and the costumes were perfect for this piece; they went with the choreography and music. Everyone had good facials and really expressed their energy with their facials. The use of claps in the piece was a great touch in the choreography to really make the dance fun. All the dancers took advantage of their little solos during the small groups when the dancers were posing. They had fun with their solos and it was easy to tell their energy went up during their solo. I loved the transitions throughout the piece and especially the ending exit of the piece. Overall, this piece was perfect to start out the concert in a fun and exciting way.

I liked the dance piece because the dancers were limited physically in their bodies, but their dancing was beyond limited and astounding. At first, I was a bit doubtful and sceptical before watching the dance because I thought the dancers were going to perform with very minimal and stiff movements. But to my surprise, the dancers moved gracefully on stage. The two dancers used quite a lot of space. The dancers used all levels of space from low to high. For example, the dancers executed amazing leaps, jumps and lifts in their performance that represented as high levels of space. The dancers movements were grand; however, they were also whimsical, sharp, circular, and clean. The dancers utilized most parts of the stage. The pattern of the space that performers used was more curved than linear. There were two dancers in this piece, the male dancer that had only one leg and the female dancer that had only one arm. The genre of dance that was performed was a ballet; though, in my observations the dance seemed to be more contemporary than ballet. For instance, the tempo of the dance was slower and had less rhythm than most classical ballets I’ve observed. Also, there were a couple of pauses and rests during the performance. The dance

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