Brittany Previte
Senior A&E Writer
Great hanging swaths of cloth will welcome audiences to the Fall Dance Concert this weekend, leading from the lobby directly into the performance area. This season’s concert will focus on the theme of introspection, exploring internal perceptions. The cloth will also serve as a projection screen for rehearsal photos, showing the process leading that has culminated in the magical performances.
The concert will showcase eight pieces, each demonstrating a joint effort between student dancers, choreographers and light designers. The Fall Dance Concert functions as both an introduction to Wooster’s dance world as well as its setting in the round, in which the audience sits on the stage surrounding the dancers.
“I think [being in the round] makes it more intimate,” said Emi Donato ’16, who choreographed the piece “Curving Conformity.” “…I think it’s very conducive to what we’re trying to do here with modern dance. Even though not all of our fall dance concerts revolve around introspection, I think we’re trying to make them all thought provoking.”
Dancer and choreographer Bridget Brately ’16 added that “[being in the round] really challenges you as a choreographer, but it helps you to add depth to your dance.”
Setting the performance in the round also exposes audiences to technical aspects of the performance typically hidden on a proscenium stage, light designer Sidney Martin ’15 said.
“[The cloth] adds to soften the space a lot, because it’s such an intimate space,” Martin said. “It’s different when you’re in the round — you see everything going on, including the fly rails, and immediately all of the lights and the legs.”
From stage manager Dani Gagnon ’16 to the members of Professor Dale Seeds’ lighting design class, the event relies on the involvement of many dedicated individuals, said Kim Tritt, professor of theatre and dance and director of the concert.
“I’m excited about the whole [concert], because these students worked so hard; there’s so many people involved,” Tritt said. “We have so many people who really are very committed to their work, and that is why we’re here.”
For dancer and choreographer Shakera Blackmon ’14, the concert will be a chance to showcase part of her I.S., which she described as an examination of how “interactions and situations on a majority-white campus affect a black woman’s identity.”
“My piece [titled ‘Stop making me Sapphire’] is about having these expectations and stereotypes put on you,” she said, “and then trying to get away from some of the negative stereotypes as well as trying to adjust and fit in — that constant battle of trying to be you, but not trying to give in.”
Blackmon said that the concert offers audiences conceptual food for thought.
“I usually like pieces that make me think…which is what this concert is definitely going to do,” she said. “I’ll be excited to see how people respond.”
The Fall Dance Concert will take place at 8:15 p.m. Nov. 21-23 in Freedlander Theatre. Tickets are free and can be reserved at the Freedlander Box Office.