On a Sunday night in the basement of Shain, Carter Goffigon and Meredith Friedman, two of the 12 senior dance majors, begin to “noodle” dance, waving their arms and bobbing their heads to prove to me how “weird” dancers can be.
“If you put us all in a room together,” Goffigon says of the dance majors, “we don’t dance like dancers.” Friends outside of the major often look confused when she shuffles around and points her index fingers in the air. She stands up to demonstrate.
At Conn, at least, members of the dance department are excused for wacky behavior with a slight “Oh, it’s just the dance majors” comment. For evidence, look no further than last year’s “I Saw a Thing” site-specific piece which took place daily during spring semester. Dancers dressed in bright yellow and pink outfits, ran around central campus, rolled on the ground and interacted with anyone in the general vicinity of the library.
At first people were confused, until they realized: Oh, it’s just the dancers. Doing their eclectic dancer things.
“Someone donated a pair of hot pink snow pants to us,” Goffigon said.
“The day I got to wear those was the best day,” Friedman said. “Whoever wore them looked like a crazy marshmallow.”
“A Peep,” Goffigon added. “A snow Peep.”
They describe themselves as “weird,” but unconventional may be a more accurate term. This year’s senior thesis dance concert — which features choreography from 10 of the senior dance majors as well as a few guest artists — seeks to turn the idea of convention “on its head a little bit,” said Goffigon. The title of the show is “Convention,” with each ‘n’ flipped to make people think twice about the term.
“We want people to think about how we fit into this conventional mode,” Goffigon said. “And the fact that we don’t,” Friedman added.
The dance majors are composed of a small but diverse group of individuals who often butt heads, laugh and cry together. “I don’t think there is another department that could sit in a room together and cry,” Friedman said.
The title is also a play on the idea of “dance convention,” of mainstream competition dance, which is the farthest thing from what most of the senior dance majors are doing.
“These different people came together over a love for dance, but that love meant something different for each of us, which makes for some unconventional moments,” Goffigon said.
Goffigon’s piece focuses on the idea of being a groupie in 1964, and is set to rocking music and commercial excerpts from the early 60s. “I have a profound love of going to concerts…I really wanted to make a piece that was about celebrating live music and the experience of being at a concert.”
She describes her dance as very celebratory, energetic and colorful, and has eight “amazing” dancers who have thrown themselves into the piece.
“When I started thinking of what kind of piece I wanted to make, what kind of legacy I wanted to leave, I wanted to do something that would make people smile and that would make people want to get up and dance,” Goffigon said. “I feel like I’ve done that. I’m very excited.”
Friedman’s piece takes a more solemn tone, focusing on the idea of loneliness. Not loneliness in the sense of being emotionally alone but of physical isolation: “I’m in a room alone, isolated, and can’t zip up my dress. What do I do?” Friedman said.
The piece then moves to the discovery of the sense of autonomy in loneliness and isolation: “Learning how to be and embrace self-sufficiency, learning to love being alone, learning to enjoy interaction but understanding that you can thrive and survive as an individual. I think that’s extremely important,” Friedman said.
“It’s inspired by day to day things that remind you that you are alone,” Goffigon said of Friedman’s work. (Both women are performing in each other’s pieces.)
“Reserving a table for one,” Friedman said.
“Putting on a bracelet.” Goffigon motioned to her wrist.
“Tiny things that you don’t think about until you’re alone,” Friedman said.
The senior thesis dance concert is the culmination of four years in the dance department, and the majors have been working on their pieces since the beginning of the semester. Each piece is personal and different. While there are 12 senior majors, 10 chose to choreograph pieces, one chose to have a solo set on her, and two worked with outside choreography. The show is divided into two programs: A on Thursday and Saturday nights, and B on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. They both feature works by Conn Professor Shani Collins-Achille and guest artist Kyle Abraham, the 2013 MacArthur Genius Award recipient, who was a guest artist when the class of 2014 were freshmen.
“We’ve come full circle,” Friedman said.
An additional element of the thesis show is a site-specific piece, which will take place in Castle Court before the opening of each show.
Without giving too much away, Goffigon describes the piece as “Cuban salsa casino.”
In addition to choreographing an eight to 12-minute piece or having a choreographer set a solo on them, all of the dance majors are responsible for the production of the show.
“It’s not often that you make art with a deadline in mind. That changes the process,” Goffigon said. “It requires you to be immensely organized…it bleeds into your brain for the rest of the week.”
Thesis show preparation has given Friedman an occasional bout of insomnia.
“Some nights I try to go to sleep, and I’m not able to. I think ‘maybe I should have done this’ and then my cast gets a 10-paragraph long email of me trying to explain movement that has no relation to words. ‘Windmill arm thing…go!’”
Goffigon nods. “Fast art. It’s a weird thing.”
Creating a show has been a different experience for the dancers than just performing in pieces. “When you’re just dancing, you don’t see what is put into the show,” Friedman said. “You know it takes a lot of effort, but [don’t realize how much] until you have to get down to the nitty-gritty. It’s difficult and scary, but it will be that much more rewarding.”
Rewarding, as well as exhausting and emotional.
“It’s a lot of work, personally as well as collectively,” Friedman said.
“Art is heavy,” Goffigon said. “At the end of the day, we have this product…”
Friedman finishes her thought, “…that we’ve all put everything, ourselves into. It’s a cool thing, and people should come.”
As Friedman noted, movement is often difficult to describe in words. To see some wacky “windmill arm” motions, as well as other unconventional — and maybe conventional — moves, be sure to attend the senior thesis dance concert this weekend.
Show A will be performed Thursday, April 10 and Saturday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. Show B will be performed Friday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, April 12 at 2 p.m. Both will take place in Palmer Auditorium with the pre-show in Castle Court beginning 15 minutes before each show. Tickets can be purchased at the Box Office.
