The Fall for Dance Festival was easily one of my favorite events to attend this semester. I was skeptical, initially, since I was worried that the modern dance shown would be difficult to interpret, with confusing symbolism and eerie music. My hunch was right to a certain degree, when the climax of the festival was revealed to be what seemed to be a semi-religious dance that lasted for long time and only served to confuse me. The dance was done by two male dancers who seemed to be paralleling each other’s’ movements in the beginning, whether it was walking in tandem or copying detailed arm movements. I knew there was a theme throughout their performance focused on mirroring in a religious context, considering the church-like shadows on the floor, but the true meaning of the dance was lost on me. I did notice that, like we discussed in class, contemporary dance involved the use of flat feet (instead of pointed the traditional ballet way) and that some sequences were hunched and curved into themselves – far from the arms out, back straight image associated with ballet.

We were introduced to the performances with a medley of colors and cultures, featuring hats that hid the dancers’ faces and skirts that billowed out on both the male and female dancers. I loved how the dance inverts expectations of traditional dance: the skirts on the male dancers were emphasized as they swirled to the front of the stage and the group’s performance later included acrobatic elements, where a male pair was featured dancing right after a traditional male-female pair performs.

There were multiple dances that I enjoyed, but I loved the tango the most. The piece starts slow, with a drunk couple intertwining themselves in an almost waltz. They then break out into this high-speed, high-intensity pace of steps, with the woman’s legs whipping forward to hook the man’s leg and back. Neither misses a beat and it is a wonder to behold, especially considering her quick steps and flip over his shoulder in heels.