Senior Dance Thesis
Review by
Held in the APA Dance Studio the Year 4 dancers put on a great, strong show. A general theme that I found rang out was death, real life and a dark part of an individual. This performance was being put on in partial completion of their Senior Thesis Class. The idea behind the class being tht they should draw on the myriad pf skills developed over their time at the university to present their own choreography and stage their own Showcase.
For my part I felt the choreographers fell in to two major categories, those who choreographed from experience and those who just created art…more on this later.
Two pieces in particular that stood out for me were Arlington Serries’ piece and Nicholas Gordon’s piece. Arlingtion’s piece ended the show with a big bang. Entitled “Black Magic: The Art of Creating Beauty”, it was filled with much color and dynamic. It reminded me of carnival. At first I was thinking that there was no link or connection and no story line but as the dance progressed I came to believe that he created art for the sake of creating it.
The dance opened slowly and strongly with an African theme that involved a being higher than man, creating man. The being is not obvious as it is left for the interpretation of the viewer. Man was born into this world alongside animals and natural beauty which he expressed with his choice movement and transition. The dance considered not only our physical being but more the spiritual aspect we know exists.
Another dancer represented this. Here comes Africa! We saw Beauty, being represented in this segment. Dancers moved around fluently displaying African movements to the beat of the drum.
The last segment displayed pure color, splendor and different aspects tied it one. Great piece, one of my favorites actually. Another eccentric piece was “Adventures of the Avengers” choreographed by Nicholas Gordon. This was a big risk taken up by a student. He stepped out the expectation of anyone when he did this. Murmurs were heard in the audience because it’s not what we would expect in a student show. A bit repetitive choreographically but it was a comic relief. Dancers wore costumes representing Captain America, Black widow, Super woman, and Thor.
“2013” choreographed by Zhane George explored a deep piece of life, death and the general journey of persons through trials and tribulation. The piece contained lots of climaxes, crescendos and proved a generally interesting piece to look at. Zhane’s dancers were dressed in flowing green chiffon skirts dancers to maximize the appearance of graceful movements. The choreography also featured dancers having quite a lot of interactions with each other. So rich was their interaction that they even drew me in as an audience member. The expression and emotions were transferred to me throughout. Dancers moved in and out continuously displaying strength and grace.
Tricia-Rae
ISSUE 1/MAY 2014
12