The first scene was called International Stud. Before the play even started I saw a glimpse of the stage and I assumed that our class came too early and they weren’t ready yet. But then all of a sudden, the sign went up and I realized we were looking into the backstage area of a drag show. The dressing room was very messy, similar to Arnold’s life at the time. His head was cluttered with so many emotions, thoughts, and feelings. However, when Ed later came into the scene, the set was very simplistic, with minimal amounts of furniture. This represented his tough exterior and all the hidden emotions buried deep within. The next scene was Fugue on the Nursery. This scene used one long bed but utilized it as many different rooms throughout the play. It was used perfectly without confusing the audience in any way. The final scene was called widows and children first. That set looked like it was taken straight out of the 1980’s. The walls were all purple and the image of a bunny was everywhere. The separation of the different rooms aided the drama that happened on the stage. Also, the use of the very front of the stage made the audience feel very connected to the conversation that was happening between Ed and David. They felt so close that I was tempted to reach out and touch them.
student post
Look, Look Again
Look, Look Again: Web of Life, John Biggers
What initially drew me to this painting was the actual length compared to the width. It was more of a rectangular shape, a particularly long one at that, compared to the other square framed paintings. The second aspect of the painting itself that struck me was the center, a breast-feeding woman. She appeared to be the main focus of the painting, the other facets branching off of her. She also seemed to act as a divider between the left and right sides of the art, which were as different as could be. The contrast between the sides was clear, but the number of factors that contributed to this contrast was more hidden. The left side portrayed a winter night, characterized by cooler colors and a melancholy aura. It also showed women, standing in a strict formation, carrying what appears to be baskets of crops. The right side, on the other hand, was completely different in both these aspects. It displays a spring day, fruitful with life such as the fish and flowering trees. Rather than women, the right side depicted men engaging in agricultural work, in a more scattered fashion. Taking note of all this, I began to attempt to piece the art together in order to understand how these features connected.
Because the piece is titled “Web of Life,” I assumed Biggers was showing viewers a prevalent interconnectedness in life. The men on the right side of the painting could be sowing seeds, as growers do in spring, and thereby introducing life- literally, through plants growing or metaphorically, through crops used as food. The women on the left side, however, could be harvesting what had been grown, returning the land to its barren state. I believe the winter and spring scenes contributed to implying that the right side of the painting symbolized growth and the left side represented death. The woman breast-feeding in the center of the painting is shown underneath the ground, possibly showing how once people are born, they factor into the system of life and death.
Fall for Dance: The Trisha Brown Dance Company
The Trisha Brown Dance Company was founded in 1970 by it’s owner and main choreographer, Trisha Brown. Brown was already well-known for her experimental pieces in the 1960s in what were called “equipment prices” where dancers used items such as harnesses and wires to simulate walking in mid-air. This type of postmodern dance became her trademark though she regularly changed the themes and methods of how she danced and choreographed others.
In the 1980s, she began to create large-scale pieces that were intended to be performed onstage, as opposed to some of her previous on-location pieces. She collaborated with Robert Rauschenberg for costumes and sets on may of her most well-known works of this period, such as Astral Convertible. Other collaborators of this time included Laurie Anderson, Nancy Graves, and Donald Judd.
During this time period, Brown solidified her position as as innovative choreographer and a major contributor to the world of postmodern dance. Trish Brown passed away in March 2017, but her company survives to perform her pieces to this day.
Fall for Dance Review: Individuals vs. Groups
Individual/ Group Dances Observation
With widened eyes and hands that cannot seem to cease clapping, this night is one that I surely will never forget. Now, looking back, I wondered, “well…how different could a group dance be versus an individual dance, it must carry the same story, the same feel, just a different amount of dancers, right?” Boy, was I wrong!
The two primary groups that stood out in terms of this distinction between the group and the individual were The Miami Ballet and Dorrance Dance Company. Two extremes of the world of dance as considered today. The Miami Ballet provided a classical and gentle take on dance, connecting music with movement precisely. However, the Dorrance Dance Company portrayed modern tap dancing, with dynamic and eccentric dances clashing and melocially adding to music, intertwining with it through the means of dance and movement.
Funny enough, each group attracted me for the opposite reason!
The Miami Ballet was overall delicate; the music and movement portrayed a traditional method of storytelling through dance. The groups tended to be more whimsical, prancing around the stage, the men with happy smiles on their faces, lively and joyous they were. My favorite however, were the individuals. The individual ballerina, the sole duos, they told a different story. They were solemn and somewhat acrobatic. This amazing sense of emotion flowed through their limbs as they danced. Nevertheless, developing this pattern of dance: quirky traditional ballet followed by melancholy and encapturing ballet.
Contrastingly, the Dorrance Dance company portrayed this dynamic street-style dance.Each individual portrayed their own personality while meshing together as a whole. The movements of the groups were rather in sync and spectacularly choreographed. They nonetheless exhibited feeling and mood as a group without muddling. They mirror in movement and use their bodies in magnificent ways to create incredible free-form movements. On the other hand, duos and solos as the individual portion, stood out from the group to tell their own stories, with their own set of emotions. Solo movements intertwined with one another and carried distinct individualism from the group. not to mention, the solos portrayed darker/heavier feelings than the happiness/lightness of the group dance, along with sharper almost “spazzing” movement.Thus, the group dances in this case turned out to be my favorite portions of the performance due to the incredible synergy and happiness/freedom they evoked.
All in all, the performances not only opened my eyes to the uniquely beautiful movements of the dancers, but to dance in general. Dance itself is such an art, from the emotions of the individual to the cooperation of a group, dance is not JUST a collection of choreographed pieces. Dance is feeling, dance is unique, and dance surely is something to Fall For.
Fall For Dance: Movement
Usually, when people try to communicate their thoughts and ideas, they use their words. However, the problem with doing this is that you don’t really pay attention to your surroundings. You spend all your time and energy on the words as opposed to the person actually speaking. That’s why when it comes to dance performances, silence is golden.
Throughout the entire performance, there were no words spoken from the cast. Instead, they used movement to tell their stories. The main body part the Miami City Ballet dancers moved was their legs. Most classical ballet dancers move their legs to help amplify the beauty and grace of the music accompanying their performance. Vincent Mantiose mainly swung his head around to help go along with his whistling and the bongos that were playing in the background. During the Trisha Brown Company’s performance, the two dancers primarily moved their arms, helping the audience realize that their dance was based off mirrors. When one dancer moved her right arm, the other would move her left in the same manner the first dancer did. Lastly, the performers from Dorrance Dance swung their arms to help go with the jazz music and singer. Thanks to all your comments when I read my piece aloud, I realized that another big body part the Dorrance Dance performers used was their legs. For the whole performance, they would swing their arms and simultaneously tap their feet. People say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but no one ever says that a gesture is worth a thousand pictures.
Fall for Dance: Costumes
Costumes by Noshin Choudhury
Miami City Ballet: The costumes for this dance company was standard for ballets. The girls wore dark purple camisole leotards that showed off their lean, tall figures. They paired the leotards with ballet shoes. The guys wore tight, dark purple shirts and pants. Both of their outfits allowed the audience to see all of their graceful dance moves and made the overall performance look elegant.
Vincent Mantsoe: Vincent took a very creative take on both his dance and his outfit. When he first entered stage, he wore a loose white shirt and cream, cropped pants with brown patterns. The pants made it seem like he was a part of nature, which his dance was aiming to do. Midway through the performance, he takes off his shirt to reveal his toned muscles as the music comes on. By showing his bare skin, it connects him more to his dance.
Trisha Brown: Unlike the Miami City Ballet Company’s costume, Trisha makes her dancers wear costumes with her distinct style. They wore a cream dress that clung tightly to their upper body but then became flowy when lower than the hips. There was a large slit on either side that ran up their legs. Also unlike standard ballet performances, the girls were not wearing ballet shoes and their hair was not tied up in a bun. The costume exemplifies Trisha’s innovative dance style that varies from typical ballet.
Michelle Dorrance Dance: The most unique part of this company’s costume was that the dancers were not wearing uniform attire. Each person took their own take on business casual attire. This reflected their dance as well because each person was able to embellish their dance moves with their own style. The lack of uniformity is normally not seen in dance performances and it made this show unique.
