The ’92 Theater was packed last Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights for the Senior Thesis Dance Concert, entitled “Four Lessons in Astrotextuality.” The concert showcased four dance pieces choreographed by senior dance majors as part of their Honors thesis work for the fall semester.
On Saturday night, the first piece, called “Bind and Press,” choreographed by Martha Jane Kaufman ’08, explored the connections between poetry and bodily movement. Five dancers dressed in costumes reminiscent of somber Victorian skirts and high-collared shirts moved across the stage, arms rotating and sweeping through the air, sometimes slowing their hurried pace to linger in a corner and gazing stoically into the distance, as if posing for a portrait or a photograph. Among the music used in this piece were readings by Gertrude Stein, Astor Piazzolla, and Pablo Neruda. As the recording of Stein’s voice calls out seemingly nonsensical verbs and words in staccato rhythm, the dancers slowly shed their long, flowing skirts one by one, wrapping them around their shoulders like cloaks, around their necks like scarves, and laying them on the floor and walking around the edges with careful, tip-toe steps.
The next piece, entitled “(re)happenings,” explored the dynamics of social movements in history and its relevance to the present. “My dancers and I used choreographic techniques and improvisation structures that emerged in the 1960s to explore if/how they translated to or could be re-appropriated within today’s cultural climate,” said choreographer Stephanie Roer ’08. The dancers entered the stage casually, dropping their shoes and flip-flops before beginning to move.
The third dance, choreographed by Rachel Fischhoff ’08, expressed the wonder and joy embodied by its title, “How to Live on Earth.” Six dancers slowly paced the stage, collapsing and rising from the floor in continuous succession. They used each other’s bodies to share weight, to raise themselves up, exploring the tension between stability and flight as they leapt upwards, one arm stretched up and eyes raised to the ceiling, as if to catch fruit on a tree. The lights finally faded as all but one of the dancers lay still on the ground. The lone dancer continued to repeat the phrase as the stage disappeared into darkness, leaping up with outstretched arms.
Kelly Klein ’08 choreographed the last piece of the night, titled “touching within between without.” Chuckles could be heard from the audience as the eight dancers, dressed in thick winter coats, crowded onto one narrow bench set in the middle of the stage and sat on top of one another, some slowly shifting and slithering across the seated laps to end up in a pile on the floor at one end. A live drummer provided a spare rhythm that mirrored the recorded sounds of clattering plates and subway cars moving over tracks that accompanied the dancers’ movements. “Sorry,” “I’m sorry,” they murmured to each other as they bumped, jostled, and touched one another. At one point, dancers gather in pairs to waltz with each other, embrace, and rub noses. Two male dancers shared an intimate embrace, paused to look each other in the eye, and suddenly pushed each other off with a sheepish, embarrassed “pssh.” They slowly took off their coats, also removing the layers of clothing underneath, until all the dancers wore only tank tops, leggings, and the sparest of clothing. They gathered on the bench again, this time inviting and luxuriating in intimate contact with each other. Finally, the dancers moved slowly into the audience, sitting together in the center aisle of the theater in quiet communion as the lights faded to black.
“The part that sticks out to me most was in the last dance. At one point, two men lay on the floor and held each other. It was interesting to see those two bodies melting into each other and taking up the space of one body,” said Katrina Smith-Manschott ’08.
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