 "Photo: Jensen Power/Manitou Messenger")
Thursday through Saturday, the 2010 senior dance majors’ “____ (in) Flight” concert in Kelsey Theater will offer attendees a chance to watch St. Olaf’s highly skilled student dancers and choreographers at work. This year’s seniors hope to show that subjects’ important to their lives can be explored with dance and that dance can be explored beyond conventional definitions.
Each senior’s subject is unique to his or her own experience and interests. After studying in India and taking part in the education of children, Lianna Cotant ‘10 was inspired to choreograph a piece about education in India.
Senior Brianna Hall’s performance is based on a poem composed by her choreographer. As a French major, Berit Nelson ‘10 chose to reflect on her study abroad experience in France last spring through choreography about the process of learning a language. The dancers sought to reflect St. Olaf’s interdisciplinary philosophies through the combination of subjects beyond dance.
Even more unique is the variety of locations and performances this year. Following the college’s year theme of migration, the concert will begin in Kelsey Theater and then travel to Dittman’s dance studios and lecture hall. “This is the first year in a long time that we’ve had this many different types of performances,” artist-in-residence Anthony Roberts said.
One senior, Jenni Haddy ’10, took a more scholarly-focused approach and developed a thesis and presentation lecture about ballet and the male gaze. Some seniors commissioned professional choreographers to create dances with them while others choreographed pieces to be performed by other dancers.
Another source of variety in the dance concert is the use of different multimedia to help invoke a message. Dances are performed to soundscapes, which include songs to provide each dance’s atmosphere. Recordings of spoken word or poetry are interacted or impersonated by some dancers.
Nelson’s dance includes the dancers talking, translating and imitating the other dancers to reflect the multitasking of speaking an unfamiliar language. Visuals, such as a projection of pictures from Cotant’s trip to India, also help the concert transcend the confines of dance and bring other arts into the fold.
As a capstone project, the “___ (in) Flight” concert will be the culmination of each senior’s education. Participation is required for graduation. It also aims to prepare them for work as professionals in the dance field. Each senior must independently form a committee of two dance faculty members and one faculty member of a different academic discipline. This committee oversees and advises the ongoing project, though the final work is ultimately led by the student. Additionally, each senior is in charge of collaboration with their choreographers or dancers.
“We look at the seniors as project directors and managers,” Roberts said. “They have a lot of responsibility for the whole project.”
Despite their independence, collaboration and creative support were also factors in the creative process for the dance majors. Rough drafts of each project were presented throughout the semester for comment and critique by the class.
Although nerve-wracking for some, these presentations were also rewarding. “The most exciting thing about doing it together was seeing ties between the pieces [and subjects] that were completely unintentional,” Nelson said.
Beyond the classroom creative collaboration also flourished. Those who perform a dance must have someone choreograph it for them. The unique background of Leah Nelson, the choreographer for Brianna Rae Johnson ‘10, as an immigrant from Zimbabwe allowed them to work together on the subjects of immigration reform and activism.
Although this project is a demonstration of a senior’s mastery of the art of dance, the artistic message of each senior’s dance is also important in the ”____ (in) Flight” concert. Turning a quantitative subject like the solving of mathematical proofs into something that can be interpreted on a level of movement and symbolism, as Brittany Paulsen ’10 aimed to do, allows dance to explain the experience to others. Communicating personal experience through dance is one of the concert’s central themes.
More than just communication, the concert intends to provoke new thought in observers. Haddy’s written thesis discusses the “The Male Gaze” from feminist theory in regards to ballet and how the female dancer is presented unequally as an object to males. Audiences will be given a proposal for a ballet that is gender neutral and equal.
Johnson’s dance about immigration reform seeks to humanize immigrants and embolden activists. “I would like the public to see immigrants as people too, with needs and feelings,” Johnson said. “I want it to be thought-provoking, and as long as that is achieved, I am satisfied.”
peterjoh@stolaf.edu
Be the first to comment on this article!