On Thursday, December 3rd, 2015, I saw a few performances of the Dance Company Fall Dance Concert presented by the Theater, Dance, and Film department of Franklin and Marshall College. The concert incorporated the works of Talia Beck, Merce Cunningham, Elba Hevia Y Vaca, Belinda Mcguire, Janet Peck, and Pamela Vail. The Concert took place at the Schnader Theater in Roschel Performing Arts Center at 7: 30 P.M. Of the performances I had the opportunity to watch, the one that most intrigued me was Belinda McGuire’s choreography to The Eighth Day. The dancers for this piece were Emma Dean, Lily Fortin, Emily Hawk, Anna Kaiser, Cairynne Koh, Juliana Piacentini, Alyssa Raifsnider, Alsion Schupp, and Elizabeth Yutzey, who was also the assistant rehearsal
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The costumes enhanced the dance. The contrast of the colors of the costumes, the dark blue costumes of the ensemble, and the light pink of the fair maiden, Koh, reinforced the effect of the illusion. Because of the darker lighting throughout this piece, I found it difficult at times to visually see some of the dancers in the ensemble, but I could easily see Koh with her bright, pink dress. The dress created an effect as if she was the only real being, while the rest were a part of her psyche. The costumes, especially Koh’s, were large in size and physically expanded the peripheral space of the dancers. Along with the costumes, the expressions expanded the spatial awareness of the dancers. Each dancer in the ensemble, relied on each other’s gestures and expressions to move through space. For example, when one dancer fell to the ground, another dancer would move through space and do a series of movements, like arabesque turns, before falling to the ground. It was almost as if I was watching a cascade of movements develop through space based on the dancers’ spatial relationships with each …show more content…
As the comrades fell, so did she. Though not clear if the comrades were actually present or just a part of an illusion, I interpreted this moment as Koh’s sixth, kinesthetic sense, which was generated and manifested from her blindness, telling her that something traumatic and horrible has happened to her lover and his companions in battle. In turn she, due to her sixth sense, committed suicide, by falling of the dead bodies, and used death as a means to reunite with her
The costumes enhanced the dance. The contrast of the colors of the costumes, the dark blue costumes of the ensemble, and the light pink of the fair maiden, Koh, reinforced the effect of the illusion. Because of the darker lighting throughout this piece, I found it difficult at times to visually see some of the dancers in the ensemble, but I could easily see Koh with her bright, pink dress. The dress created an effect as if she was the only real being, while the rest were a part of her psyche. The costumes, especially Koh’s, were large in size and physically expanded the peripheral space of the dancers. Along with the costumes, the expressions expanded the spatial awareness of the dancers. Each dancer in the ensemble, relied on each other’s gestures and expressions to move through space. For example, when one dancer fell to the ground, another dancer would move through space and do a series of movements, like arabesque turns, before falling to the ground. It was almost as if I was watching a cascade of movements develop through space based on the dancers’ spatial relationships with each …show more content…
As the comrades fell, so did she. Though not clear if the comrades were actually present or just a part of an illusion, I interpreted this moment as Koh’s sixth, kinesthetic sense, which was generated and manifested from her blindness, telling her that something traumatic and horrible has happened to her lover and his companions in battle. In turn she, due to her sixth sense, committed suicide, by falling of the dead bodies, and used death as a means to reunite with her