Dean's Seminar Class

This semester in my Dean's Seminar Class -"Great Performances in Dance", freshman students have had the opportunity to see many live choreographic works. The student's responses have been wonderful! I have been so impressed with their growth and their ability to write about dance that I am sharing a few excerpts with you. Enjoy, Dana

By Rachel Obenschain, Washington Ballet, Don Quixote

Furthering my analysis of movement, I noticed that the footwork in each scene was intricate and followed the general flow of the music. The music itself, however, sounded like it had been shortened from its original version because the transitions from one song to the next were forced and messy. When the music sped up, as did the footwork, and vice versa. It was also evident to me which movements were of a classical ballet descent and those that were incarnations of folk dancing. The ballet movements were all pulled up, turned out, and involved a great deal of stretch in all of the limbs, whereas the folk dancing was a bit more stylized and incorporated movements such as back bends, wrist turning, and fists. I thought that the folk elements were also responsible for the snapping, clapping, stomping, and tambourine playing, which occurred at random intervals throughout the performance. These aspects added an interesting layer on top of the classical ballet because it provided variation within the performance, while still staying true to the characteristic features of a ballet from the late romantic period. Essentially, I thought the hybridization of ballet and folk dancing enhanced the performance and made it all the more visually pleasing to watch.

Although I enjoyed watching the choreography, I felt the performance quality within the company varied so much that it hindered the performance as a whole. While no dancer in the company was significantly less competent than any of the others, my eyes were drawn to the dancers that performed the movements with the most conviction. Also, some dancers performed the arm movements with great force behind them, while others implicated softness into each gesture. This created an odd visual while watching the company perform together because the technique and movements appeared inconsistent. In addition, I thought that the performance quality of Kitri and Basilio, in relation to one another, was unusual. The dancer portraying Kitri performed her movements with a great deal of tension in her arms and appeared to be working hard for her movements. The dancer portraying Basilio, however, performed his movements with an air of softness and made each movement appear effortless. I thought that this contrast seemed a bit confusing and portrayed Basilio as more effeminate than Kitri.

By Amy Dono -DTSB&Co., Island

In the premiere of Island, the second piece of the evening, the underlying theme entailed the journey and changes in the lives of immigrants stuck on Angel Island, waiting for their passage to the United States that was often never fully granted. Each segment of the work and each separate dance represented a different phase or step in the voyage, both physically and on a mental and emotional level. The visuals employed throughout Island represented the historical context, through Chinese calligraphy, photographs, poetry, and graffiti, and the symbolism of the Chinese characters, especially the one translating to “death” or “mourning” in the final moments, aid the dancers in portraying the story of the many people who came, went, and remained on the island during the era of immigration. All of those who left their homeland in search of the “Gold Mountain” of America were united in their cause and shared a common goal: the pursuit of a better and happier life in a new place.

Yet this new life was difficult and often even impossible to obtain as a result of legal restrictions and political opposition. Many Asians were trapped on the island, as shown through the choreography and images of the piece. The dancers showed each phase of the trip, from the sadness of leaving their Mother China, to the terror and difficulty of the boat voyage, to the alienation and foreign-ness of everything once they had arrived on the island of both hope and doom. The music of this second work incorporated traditional and classical Asian scores, giving it a rich cultural tone, and paired with both traditional and more modern dance components, created an intricate and beautiful show.

As the journey continues, the styles of movement changed as did the music and set, from serene, peaceful lighting and flowing images and motions to stark, quick cuts made by the dancers and dark, harsh background elements. Aside from the symmetry and synchronicity of everything, there was also juxtaposition of the music, dance, and visuals, at the intense moments of transition and climax. In the face of death, with an image of a body projected onto a soft white sheet covering an actual body, the dancers moved slowly and gracefully in a circle despite the terror, shock, and heightened emotions the people must have truly felt. This can also be seen as a form of irony, showing how commonplace these struggles became- yet that is not to say that they were any easier to bear.

Through a combination of traditional and contemporary dance forms and again through the set, scenery, and audio and visual aspects, the work of Dana Tai Soon Burgess Company and the choreographer himself resulted in an intriguing, unique, and moving experience in the art of dance and storytelling without words.

By Nicole Yao-Terheema Mitha, Blue Jeans

To begin with, Tehreema Mitha relays to us in her voice over that people immigrate in order to escape alienation, prosecution, racism, violence, poverty, etc. She ends her voice over with: “The diversity of the United States is what makes us unique”. In a sense, she is only presenting the beginning and the end of the story with her voice: the beginning of immigration, the reasons for it, and the positive outcome of it. This way, she can let her dance speak for itself. The opening dance is Tehreema Mitha dancing a customary Pakistani dance in traditional dress. Her movements reflect the regal, rich, saturated colors of her costume. While beautiful, the costume also communicates the quality of strength; and her movements represent these two qualities as well. Tehreema Mitha’s dance incorporates many sharp, angular arm gestures, while also paying especial attention to a specific hand position. Furthermore, her footwork was not as elaborate as her arm and hand movements; they were smaller steps that repeated themselves while her arms were angular and sharply transformed from move to move, always keeping in mind the pristine position of her hands. Even though her movements embodied strength in beauty, there was also a hint of soft femininity. As I learned in class from our guest speaker about Balinese dance and how women displayed their femininity through movements in their torso, I find this is also recognized in Tehreema Mitha’s dance with her intricate arm and hand gestures. Additionally, the sparkly and delicate head ornamentation of flowers brought the soft feminine quality out. Her dance is immediately connected to the dance of people dressed in red, chrome, and black with masks on. Instantly, once can see the juxtaposition of the type of costume and movements used by Tehreema Mitha and the masked dancers. While Tehreema Mitha’s dance is sharp and strong, it translates a soft femininity as well, however, the masked dancers have a sharpness that represents threat or even violence. Their bodies move more mechanically and more homogenized, making their identities masked and genderless. This section of the performance articulates the “darkness”, the problems, that plague her country. Eventually, when Tehreema Mitha collapses and is covered in a sheer shawl, it represents her immigration and rebirth into a new country, a new environment, a place to start new. In the following solo, duo, and group dances, the role of blue jeans is made aware. In contrast to the dances before, a cheerful, whimsical, sunny, bright, and American song accompanied these dances rather than a traditional piece of music and the dancers are dressed casually in t-shirts and blue jeans. Additionally, the style of dance changed as well. Now, the dancers are dancing a more American conventional dance with sweet and playful kicks, jumps, rolls, skipping, swaying, splits, twirls, and poses. The blue jeans symbolize this type of American lifestyle and culture as well as the positive, happy enlightenment and hopes of immigration. However, the two different styles of dance then start to conflict with one another. There is almost a battle of styles, one trying to outshine the other. This reflects the immigrant’s personal conflict with himself or herself and the notion of stereotyping and losing his or her culture and identity. Additionally, this also exposes the confusion immigrants feel in how to properly balance American culture and their own. In the end, the dancers fuse together the styles of the traditional Pakistani dance and the American dance, which is representative of the epiphany of equilibrium of cultures. This is how Tehreema Mitha transforms classical style into abstract style; she takes certain elements of the traditional Pakistani dance and combines it with American techniques. Elements of the traditional Pakistani dance include small, quick footwork and a wide-ranged use of the torso and upper body, especially with the intricate and elegant arm movements. Finally, the dance of cherry blossoms symbolizes the innocence of immigrants and their potential to flourish and bloom in the United States. This concept is signified by the long, flowing, pink, brown, and champagne colored dresses and the dancers’ graceful movements.