From Site Director Jill Randall:
As some readers may remember, I began MFA Dance in Review when I was in graduate school at Saint Mary’s College (2014-2016). I enjoy keeping the project running and holding onto the original premise: writing about a graduate student’s work can offer another layer of support and reflection, plus continue to question and build upon ideas throughout the thesis process.
The project began with the Saint Mary’s College MFA concerts, but there is an ongoing and open invitation for MFA programs throughout the U.S. to add to the site. Please join in!
For this particular review, we tried a few new components. First off, I worked with professors Andrew Merrell and Rogelio Lopez to prepare the writers. Each MFA student asked a specific question to the writers, in terms of the feedback they were seeking, whether about the ending of the work, images that came to mind viewing the dance, or questions and curiosities lingering after the show.
Second, two writers contributed to the Cohort 5 concert review of The Collective: Phase II. Writers Garth Grimball and Rachel Caldwell attended the concert on January 25, 2020 at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA. Garth’s responses are here in black, and Rachel’s responses are here in blue.
Garth Grimball is a dance artist and writer based in Oakland, CA; Rachel Caldwell is a dance teacher and writer based in Berkeley, CA.
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wasted, again Atalya Yeshayahu
In “wasted, again” a squad of four female dancers strut down a staircase lip synching to “TTHHEE PPAARRTTYY” by Justice, with enthusiasm equal to the song title’s all-caps-seeing-double vibe. Gyrating, flexing, and bopping on the rhythms the foursome do double duty as dancers and bartenders passing around shots and glasses of champagne to the audience. Performing a choreographed recklessness the dancers engage in contemporary movement of leg extensions, slamming onto the floor, and emotive partnering, often with one dancer holding a bottle of alcohol, stumbling into “drunkest girl at the party” territory. The work brings to mind a brand of Instagram feminism - aggressively inviting (enjoying?) an objectifying gaze as a form of self-ownership without concern of the commodifying forces such a gaze supports. Is “wasted, again” satirizing or celebrating? It will be interesting to see as the process continues.
Coming Up Jermaine McGhee
“Coming Up” is a solo of coming apart. Dancer Katie Lawson-Gill’s dramatic entrance and smudged make-up veer on camp but her focus in the choreography grounds the performance. The movement suggests an internal conflict barely being held together as Lawson-Gill moves up and down the stage. The structure of the composition does give voice to damage and disconnect. I did not feel a resolution. I think a resolution could be achieved structurally with the use of silence or of having the dancer in a neutral state at some point in the journey as a frame of reference.
Morale Juliana Freude
“Morale” begins with a deft solo. Gesture, floorwork, and extension are given equal weight and precision. The soloist retreats into a group and then exits the space. The group moves en masse between weight sharing and full-on partnering. The soloist returns bound with rope connected to an off-stage source so she can only venture a few feet into the space. The work successfully plays with fore, mid, and background. For me the imagery in the piece reflected the work of creating consensus, especially when it comes to mood or energy.
Cyclical Trends Jasmine Hamilton
With slow, meditative arm gestures, and slinky, cat-like movements close to the floor, Jasmine Hamilton stretched, crouched and undulated her back hypnotically to Jose James’ “Strange Fruit,” a protest song about lynchings. Returning to a motif of turning away from the audience, Hamilton kept her choreography pared down. Having never heard “Strange Fruit” before, I didn’t know how powerful a piece of music it is. Thus, despite superb dancing coupled with sophisticated movement choices, Hamilton’s movement took a supporting role to the music. Lyrics like, “Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze. Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees,” suggest an outcry against racism toward African Americans, which was how I interpreted her choreography. Were Hamilton to further develop this work, I’d encourage the additional sections to use music in which the lyrics are not such a dominant presence.
The Epidemic of Discovery Felicia Fry-Flores
Felicia Fry-Flores’ “The Epidemic of Discovery” was a brilliantly crafted exploration of autistic embodiment. Four dancers progressed through repeated gestures suggestive of compulsive movement responses exhibited by those with autism. The piece’s intensity elevated as the dancers twitched, fidgeted, touched their own skin and shoved their hands in their pockets with increasing speed and forcefulness. Midway through, one dancer discarded her pants and top, isolating herself stage right. What stood out to me was the sense of agitation and discomfort she demonstrated as she rubbed her own legs—a nod to extreme tactile sensitivity. Her spatial isolation gave me the sense that, while the other three dancers found a way to cope in a world of typical embodiment, she couldn’t. It was an emotionally evocative choice that resonated with me long after the piece ended.
The Continuum of Security Bela Watson
This trio uses costuming as a choreographic effect. The dancers wear shirts creating a trompe l’oeil of full tattoo sleeves. The adornment highlights the gesture work and the gesture based relation that unifies the dancers. The movement reads as personality driven with spatial awareness directed by proximity to each other’s energies rather than exploring space as an entity unto itself. The dancers have a strong sense of ensemble.
Elemental Correlation Natalie Isaacs
Four women dressed in gray danced without music in Natalie Isaacs’ “Elemental Correlation.” They stomped and breathed audibly, punctuating falls, runs and the occasional shudder with a breath score. Barely acknowledging one another, the dancers appeared to share the space by happenstance rather than intentionally. Because of the lack of music and the pedestrian movement choices (walking, running), I connected most with the breath score. The sounds grabbed my attention and drew my focus towards whichever dancer was vocalizing. Despite the angsty gestures and body language, this piece was the most abstract of the evening, so much so that I struggled to find meaning in it. For the future, I’d love to see Isaacs build more relationships between the dancers and vary means of locomotion outside of walking and running.
re:MEMBER Elizabeth Cozad
“re:MEMBER” featured three women charging through space, darting around one another in winding patterns to a driving score by Drew Mantia. Brandishing long sheets of fabric, the dancers waved them like matadors, later fastening them around their waists to create skirts. Aside from some admiration and respect for the way in which two of the dancers deftly managed costume malfunctions when their skirts either wouldn’t attach or became detached, I had a hard time connecting to the work on an emotional level. Each dancer was emoting in a different way—one looking apprehensive, one determined and one more serene, so I couldn’t quite pinpoint the emotional timbre of the work. Beautifully crafted phrases that kept my eye moving and seamless partner work made it a non-issue for me though. Cozad’s choreographic choices stood on their own.
Abiding Hailey Yaffee
In “Abiding” three dancers process like monks reading liturgical scriptures into the space. Silently mouthing the words and dressed in glossy red fabric each appears lost in their own narrative. The papers unfold and are laid out in three parallel lanes. The choreography continues the use of the face to abstract reading aloud into dada-esque contortions. Eventually the tracks intersect and the dancers enter each other’s space. By the end the paper prop is paper sculpture as the dancers wrap their heads with it forming cocoons. Questions that came up for me: How can the tactility of the paper be expressed choreographically? What space are the dancers entering from and do they know? How can the strength of the work’s images extend to other qualities?
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