By Michelle Giuseffi, Staff Writer

University dancers, alumni and faculty wowed crowds in the Fall Dance Concert commemorating the dance department’s silver anniversary. The concert ran performances from Thursday, November 19 to Sunday, November 22 in Adams’ Playhouse. Audiences were graced by the diverse talents of current members of the department as well as brilliant recent alumni who danced in and choreographed pieces for the performance.

Students and alumni proved to be well able to perform in a variety of styles. The concert began and ended with pieces giving a Broadway feel while incorporating more modern aspects of dance.

In “Fly” and “Wind,” the dancers portrayed flight attendants, complete with lifts resembling a plane in flight. In “Freshwater,” dancer Candace Thompson, and alumna and choreographer, Makeda Thomas, incorporated traditional African dance in a narrative piece, which was a strong contrast to the previous Broadway piece. Even pieces in the same style varied dramatically. “Lonely Crowds,” choreographed by Dina Denis, and “Render,” choreographed by Salvatore LaRussa, were both modern pieces, but while “Lonely Crowds” could be characterized as thought provoking and quirky, “Render” could be characterized as dark and mysterious. The different styles proved to keep the audience guessing what would come next.

The chosen music, or lack thereof, was also intriguing. Some songs were lighthearted and fun, while others were dark and mysterious. In the piece “S. 2nd,” choreographed by Salvatore LaRussa, the music within the piece varied dramatically. Due to the length of the piece, these variations were beneficial to keeping the audience engaged.
Also interesting was the lack of music in some pieces. The dancers danced to spoken word in “Los Colores” and part of “Freshwater,” both choreographed by Makeda Thomas. Dancing to only spoken word is a difficult task, and the dancers should be commended for succeeding in this feat.

The costumes worn by the dancers were also noteworthy. While some costumes were picked to portray a character, like the flight attendants, others, like the long dresses for women and simple pants for men in “Render.” showed a connection to the traditional modern dance attire. Others served as creative mechanisms for the choreographers.

In “Freshwater,” the dancer is fully clothed in Victorian-esque attire with a metallic mask to portray the dancer’s struggles with the colonization of her country. As the audience begins to experience the dancer’s feelings of desperation she begins shedding layers of her costume, and eventually the mask covering her face. With each removed layer, the dancing becomes more dramatic, and consequently the audience begins to further understand the intensity of the dancer’s emotions.

Though the concert pieces were rather lengthy, students and alumni proved to maintain the interest of audiences during the 2009 Fall Dance Concert. The showcase displayed the wide range of dance at the University, which has broadened its solely modern horizons since the dance program’s start in 1984. The many patrons who enjoyed the concert have the Spring Dance Concert to look forward to in late April.