While sad-faced hobo-clowns and astute observations of Wesleyan’s social scene may not strike many as the makings of great dance pieces, the University’s many talented choreographers drew upon these ideas and more as inspirations this past weekend.
Incorporating styles as varied as tap, modern dance, and everything in between, the second Terpsichore dance performance of the year kept audience members laughing and marveling throughout the show. Dancing for a packed house at every performance, ten choreographers, from life long dancers to recreational shakers, put together hilarious and skilled dance pieces.
The show started off with a more traditional tap number choreographed by three-time Terp choreographer Betti Packman ’07. Consisting entirely of female tappers, the number showcased the girls’ talent and utilized many well-known tap moves. Unlike all of the other pieces, all of the girls in her number have had some previous experience as tappers.
“I’ve really enjoyed bringing together people with a variety of different tap backgrounds and getting them all to a place where they can do the same choreography,” Packman said.
“Dumpster Diving: It’s All Coming Back to Celine Dion” showcased the comedic genius of choreographers Joanna Firestone ’09 and Beth Davies ’09. Julia Popkin ’10, dressed as a small innocent clown girl being pursued by a sad hobo-clown full of tricks and toys (Sara Maeder ’08), showed a range of skills not often utilized within Terp shows.
“I think at first, we wanted the dance to portray love as innocent and almost childlike,” Firestone said. “So both dancers were going to be children. But then, the more we thought about it, clowns seemed to have much more complexity than children. And like a good Terp dance, we needed complexity. Then we realized that the real heroes were the dual hobo-clowns because, well, hobo-clowns have stories.”
Inspired equally by spy interactions and rapper Akon, Joe John Sanchez’s ’07 “Memorias Oscuras (No Habia Sol)” was a hilarious two-person dance with dancers clad in black and white spy costumes. Performed to Akon’s “Smack That,” Chiara Di Lello ’10 and Kate Heller ’09 chased each other around the stage, literally “smacking that,” until both sunk to the stage’s floor and remained there for a painfully hilarious 30 seconds.
“The ending of the dance was a mistake,” Sanchez said. “During the second showing with the Terpsichore core group, Kate finished her movement too early and just collapsed into stillness for a very long period of time. To my surprise, everyone loved it, so I decided to keep it in the dance.”
The show’s largest ensemble piece was Michael Jackson’s best-selling single, “Thriller,” choreographed by Alex Hartley ’10. With more than 20 dancers, the piece’s costumes and dance moves brought the audience right back to the 1980s. While Hartley was only able to get the whole group together once before performances began, working with such a large group of people turned out to be more rewarding than difficult.
“My favorite part about the group of people I worked with is that, aside from an intro dance class here and there or a little bit of folk dancing, there was only one other dancer beside myself who had any formal dance training,” Hartley said. “As a choreographer, this can be challenging at times, but it is also my favorite part about choreographing for Terpsichore.”
“I think that watching the dance knowing that none of the people doing it consider themselves dancers changes the way a person looks at dance, and makes it become a less intimidating activity,” Hartley continued.
The most outrageously biting performance of the entire show was entitled “I Knew I Wanted To Bone You Before I Met You: thefacebook.com” and was choreographed by Elissa Gross ’08. Set to the music of The Blow and The Management, quintessential University favorites, the piece showed the choreographer’s perceptions of the different social groups around campus and what would happen if they all were forced to interact at one drunken party. With a DKE brother having a secret love affair with a male hipster, a Wesrugby player hitting on a female pre-frosh, rich hipsters being served cocaine from a butler, and one courageous streaker ending the piece, Gross’ number was controversial but entertaining.
“We were worried that certain audience members, especially parents, would be offended or disgusted [by the dance],” Gross said. “I actually talked to some parents after the show who thought it was a ‘brilliant representation’ of what even they see Wesleyan as and said the dance ‘was so Wesleyan.’ I’m not sure what this means for Wesleyan exactly, but it makes me very proud.”
With a choreographer selection process that is intentionally relaxed and a dance audition that allowed for all those who tried out to participate in this year’s show, Terpischore’s completely student-run performance showcased the varied abilities of student dancers.
While not the most traditional of dance shows, Terpsichore offered the audience, dancers, and choreographers the opportunity to conceptualize dance in new ways. From first-time choreographers to long-time core members, every person brought something different away from the rewarding process involved in putting together a piece for the show.
“My experiences in Terp have honestly changed my life and really helped me develop confidence and direction as an artist,” Sanchez said. “It’s quite possibly the best thing I’ve ever done at Wesleyan.”
With the focus more on the process than on the final product, many other choreographers reflected Sanchez’s sentiments.
“Choreographing is more work [than dancing], but there is more satisfaction,” said choreographer Yumin He ’10. “Choreographers have to think up the steps, gauge the steps to the skill level of the dancers, and think how might the step progress in the space given, but when the end result is seen, they have the knowledge that they did all that thinking and planning. It’s creation, which is difficult and beautiful.”
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