Kendra Pierce
Dance Performance Analysis
Instructor Sophia Gorder
Due November 29, 2012
My Interpretation of movement in the dance Earth Works
Each season brings on new feeling of excitement, emotion, motivation and change. The journey thru how our Earth Works was performed by students attending Salt Lake Community College, in Salt Lake City Utah. This performance was held at the South City Campus of the college on November 17, 2012. This performance will take you on a journey through different seasons as well as portray different cultural ideas, rituals, human behavior and so much more.
“We Are… In It” this piece was performed by Jersey Reo Riemo and Breeanne Saxton and Choreographed by Sofia Gorder. The setting was a dark stage, with a large pier inspired structure. Using different facial expressions and force thru their movement, the dancers made me feel like there were some very strong emotions of love and compassion between them. As the piece progressed it went from sustaining movement being smooth, even and an equalized energy coming from both dancers, to more of a playful energy. I got the impression that something was going to happen between them and the bond that they were sharing with each other. During this time the anticipation was building as to what feelings were going to arise as a result of the playfulness. Although they did not use the majority of the stage, their use of several different dynamics of dance helped them portray a chase of emotion. This chase turned into a struggle between opposing forces, altering who would play the chase role and who would play the flight role. They continued to hold their bond together. The dance rhythm became more sudden with several different percussive movements being used. This brought on a feeling of seriousness. They had been playful and loving in the beginning but now it was about understanding that what they were going thru was real. There was no time left for games. That feeling of love and connection was gone. With altering the roles of who was chasing who it was hard to distinguish who still held the connection and at what point they let that connection go. It felt like there was a dividing point in the dance were the man had lost connection the connection to the women and could not find it after it was lost. She however, maintained permissiveness and embraced the emotions as she attempted to get him back.
The second performance that I thought to be interesting was the “Right of Passage“. This performance was choreographed by Rosie Banchero. The 12 performers in this piece are all students at Salt Lake Community College. This dance piece had a contemporary/ modern feel to it. The music was up-tempo and fast. As the dancers started their performance, I could immediately tell that the energy portrayed in the beginning would last through out the entire piece. The setting gave the illusion that the dance was taking place in a far away place where both artistic and ceremonial dance were apart of the culture. The dance changed tempo several times throughout the performance piece but the energy that was used remained the same. I felt like the mood would change back and forth from being part of a community where they were performing a ceremonial dance to being part of a community where they were expressing the rights they had thru dance. Implementing all the available space for movement each dancer moved in his or her own way. Some used nonlocamoter movements that portrayed the feeling of authority above the others. While those using locamoter movement would move around the others as if they were idolizing them. I found it to be very interesting that the power of high energy and strong movements as opposed to sudden still movement had such a dramatic effect on the piece as a whole. It was as if the whole performance was a tribute or celebration to someone of the culture. The up beat tempo gave the feeling of inspiration and happiness.
While the different movement obtained by each dancer gave it a feeling of sacred or seriousness as well. With the costumes they were wearing, the setting and environment that they were representing and the expressions on their faces I felt like they were showing a sense of freedom. With all the festivities that were going on, the dance almost made me wonder what trial and hardships that they had to go through in order to dance so freely. It was amazing to see that regardless of what dance move was being implemented the dancer showed a sense of enjoyment. This was huge to me because I feel like that feeling of self worth or accomplishment shows thru any everything.
Overall I felt like the performance was very well structured. Each dance was different in several different ways. There were several types of dance that were used and several different styles of movement that were incorporated into each piece. Even though the dancers may have been dancing to the same rhythm/beat each dancers individual style had a huge impact on the overall completion of the performance. The whole performance portrayed how the earth worked thru different seasons, cultures, location and change of pace. During all of the change that was already taking place the performers were able to control the emotion the crowd was perceiving. These dancers were all very talented and had the ability to gracefully perform different dance styles.
