Photo courtesy of Jess Rush.
Nine senior dance majors celebrated the culmination of their embodied research in a weekend of Capstone concerts on Apr. 17 and 18. The Dune hosted “PRECEDENTED. (our connection is unstable),” a compilation of live performances and dance films choreographed by seniors (Sydney Bryan ‘21, Darriana Greer ‘21, Journee Hardaway ‘21, Elisa Kennedy, ‘21 Riley Myhaver ‘21, Lindsey Perlman ‘21, Mara Senecal-Albrecht, ‘21 Ayana Sequira ‘21, and Ryley Young ‘21), department faculty members, and guest choreographers (Professors Shakia Barron, Shani Collins, and Shawn Hove, and guest artist Annie Rigney). The shows were livestreamed on Zoom to an audience of about 130 people each night, and an in-person audience included students, faculty, and family members who were vaccinated or tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before arrival. Audiences were taken on a journey exploring joyful community, individual expression within artistic codification, nostalgic happiness, ancestral memory, and more. A tremendous success and exciting pair of evenings, these concerts developed from months of creative labor, resilience, and flexibility in the face of adversity.
The seniors all took a semester-long capstone course in which they generated ideas and choreography while also focusing on social media outreach and publicity, designing posters, outlining budgets, and printing programs. At the start, they were given the choice to make a live piece or a dance film, which was a new option this year as dance films have grown in popularity as a COVID-safe art-making medium. Five of the twelve pieces were films, and some choreographers, like Greer and Sequira, had taken the course Dance for the Camera with Professor Hove which gave them vital experience and technical knowledge. Greer also noted that several of her dancers had not performed live before, and she did not want to throw them into a difficult, unpredictable performance venue for the first time. The seniors all received feedback on their work from professors and peers in two virtual choreography showings earlier in the semester, but those making films struggled to receive as much constructive feedback as most of the faculty’s expertise lies in live performance choreography. Films added location scouting, filming, and editing on top of rehearsals and had to be completed by the first of two tech weeks while live dances could still tweak and edit choreography while rehearsing on the stage. Despite the difficult timelines and challenges of mixing media, both live pieces and films were successfully completed and shown over the weekend.
The months of unforgiving rehearsal schedules were made more arduous with health and safety guidelines. In order to meet the performance deadlines, auditions were held asynchronously over winter break, as students learned dance phrases from videos, filmed themselves in their homes dancing, and submitted these clips to a Google Folder for seniors to assess and choose their casts. Rehearsals began in the first two weeks of the spring semester while dancers studying on-campus were in onboarding quarantine. Choreographers used inconvenient Zoom dorm room rehearsals to explain concepts, teach short phrases, and get to know how each dancer moves. Eventually, rehearsals were moved to the studios, but dancers were still confined to the six square foot boxes. Finally, dancers were allowed to use the full studio space and travel in every direction as long as they maintained six feet of distance indoors and three feet outdoors.
Choreographers reflected on the challenges of executing their original choreographic visions according to the constantly changing guidelines, and they discovered ways to convey emotions and ideas while wearing masks and without physically touching. The process was emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausting. “Your soul is tired, your heart is tired,” Perlman said, reflecting on a special kind of creative burnout they struggled with due to draining rehearsals. Without spring break, choreographers had little time to revise their choreography and filmmakers did not have a period of time to focus on editing. Classes, rehearsals, filming, and homework piled on top of each other, and many students struggled with general burnout. With the new academic schedule, classes started earlier and ended later in the day than previous years, forcing rehearsals to be hosted seven days a week at every available hour, even on late Thursday nights or early Sunday mornings. “We never really had time to warm up before rehearsals, so the possibility of injuries happening just became that much greater,” said Young. “And then into tech week, being out in the cold for so long and just having your muscles tense up, by the time the Sunday show was over, I woke up on Monday and felt like I could not move. I felt like everything in my body hurt to an extent that it had never hurt before.” In addition to rehearsals, weekly academic dance technique classes continued, and dancers never had a chance to physically recover.
The Dune allowed for high-quality productions with live audiences and performers, regaining a semblance of traditional large-scale department shows, but the unpredictable weather added another layer of risk and stress. An earlier third show was scheduled for Thursday April 15, but it was rained out. However, it was the 40-50 degree weather plus wind chill that made performing hazardous. The cold exacerbated injuries that arose from the intense rehearsal schedule, and the night dew made the stage slippery. For dancers used to dancing barefoot on dry, indoor theaters, wearing socks and sneakers in such a different environment was jarring and uncomfortable. Masks quickly became soaked with condensation, making breathing difficult in the brisk night air. Last minute costume changes were necessary, and choreographers made sure their dancers wore as many warm layers as possible while still maintaining mobility to prevent muscular injury and tightness. Hood Dining Hall in Blaustein served as a dressing room, and dancers had to run across Tempel Green, cross the street, and run into the building between pieces. Some even resorted to changing behind the production crew tent in the frigid air to make it back on stage in time. Performance adrenaline and excitement kept everyone going throughout the long evenings.
The production crew’s dedication and professionalism alleviated much of the stress that comes with performances. Professor Hove and his production class students Jocelyn Lewis ‘24, Haley Michel ‘24, and Zoe Zitner ‘24; along with Bruce Valenti and Rodney Dumond from theatre services; and sound manager Josh Paquette, braved the many long, cold hours and set up the Dune with lighting, sound equipment, multiple cameras, and flooring each night. The production value was at its highest, and performers and viewers alike were able to focus on the dancing without worry. All of these elements came together to set an auspicious precedent for future generations of seniors and creators. In grappling with the layers of adverse circumstances, the Department and seniors discovered innovative ways to share performances live online and in-person, how to safely perform in outdoor conditions, and how to stay connected as artists and friends even if their connection may be a little bit unstable.
