The Dark Room Of The Room

always been known for the risky and powerful movements which are often why dancers retire from the company. The dancer’s movements were often very intense and emotive, such as the “throws” across the stage in which the dancers would, almost violently, launch themselves across the stage in different forms (leaps, falls and flips to name a few). Another section where the movements were emotive is where the dancers were thrusting their hips in different positions to perhaps show sexuality in “self”.

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

This section ends with the female in and arabesque on the male dancers knee without stretched hands as thought reaching out for help. A recurring motif through the whole dance.

The dancers represent how they are all moving together to a rhythm that binds them together, not as dancers, but as human beings. It represents how everything is bound together, but this connection is lost by many of the characters. They distance themselves from their connections to relatives and to the Earth through the actions of the government and their own decisions.

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

Six dancers had a “partner” but one person was left out adding to the dynamic of the dance. This dynamic was creating a story for the audience to follow if they only follow the wave of movement. One group of dancers would float over to the single dancer using ballet and animal-like movements, yet the single dance moved as if in trouble. This single dancer received help from that group, yet everyone on stage would become this single dancer at some point. It created a story of helping others in their time of need, and it was a lovely story to watch unfold.

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 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.

Pictures are used throughout literary work to assist authors in portraying an idea. “A picture is worth a thousand words,” which is why Lila Quintero Weaver decided to use images to support her ideas in her graphic novel, Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White. Her graphic novels looks back at her childhood when she moved from Argentina to Mobile, Alabama during the era of Jim Crow’s laws and the Civil Rights Movement. Weaver uses a variety of images to support her idea that racial segregation continues even after segregation had been ruled illegal.

As section one develops, we see the woman collapsing to the ground before writhing at the foot of the cloth, the pressure pushing down on her, forcing convulsions, binding her to the ground. Exhibiting solely low and medium levels, conjointly with contrasting dynamics of sustained and vibratory or percussive movements, the woman reaches out to the audience, provoking involvement, and emotional attachment. Her determination and longing for freedom is oppressed as the representational movements manifest. The dancer ascends to an erect position, wrapping the cloth around her and stepping on it, binding herself to the ground. These introverted, constrained movements convey to the audience the dancer's struggle, particularly when combined with the myriad of literal and abstracted movements. The audience are shown her struggle against not only the symbolic interpretation of the ground as her work and the pressure placed upon her to work, but also the literal meaning of being bound and specifically the

The props being used throughout this dance consist of an elastic band, a rectangular piece of cardboard that vary in different sizes and a long plank of wood. The elastic band creates the feeling of risk and suspension, the elastic is a flimsy material that could break at any point. The piece of cardboard and the plank of wood are quite similar, they both play with trust, counting on the others to help keep it stable. It also plays with weight and counter balance, which lies under the theme of ‘ trust ‘. What all these materials have in common is if a wrong move is made, could cause a

Lori Schiller’s story of her struggles battling mental illness is frightening yet inspiring. Lori’s childhood was incredibly normal if not better than the norm. She grew up in a very affluent, wealthy family that were also very loving and supporting. Lori was also a straight A student that was accepted to some of the best universities in the country. Many people have the notion that mental illness only happens to children from bad families or the homeless but Lori proves that stereotype

This fragile and low angled movement was used to represent the dancer trying to ‘fix’ the problem, this can specifically be seen as he tries to make the bed, but eventually ends up rolling and wreathing around in the sheets, ultimately giving up. I wanted my choreography to convey the fragility of someone who is stuck in love, a place that is dangerous on a person’s soul. I also wanted to show that despite being torn down, one can get back up again regardless of what they left behind, and this can be seen in the final chorus where the dancer breaks out into powerful and engaging choreography that juxtaposes the movements beforehand. Impacting moments include the ripping of the lights that surround the dancer’s bedroom wall and the last shot of the dancer in bed, curled up in a fragile state. I particularly emphasized the lights because in my eyes they represented the beauty of romance, so much that when they were ripped from the wall the audience would feel the catastrophe and instability of the relationship the dancer was stuck in. I specifically used “Body” as a major dance component, focusing on symmetrical movements in the arms, legs and face while using the system of breath to show

Slowly, as the eyes adapt to the darkness, you recognize two women, one with her eyes closed and her arms open stumbling against the walls of the stage, while the other moves recklessly along a chair filled stage while a male dancer moves the props out of her way.