April 2015: OF BREATH AND BODY Dance Concert

Amethyst Weburg, Walter Fogler, Lisa Drew in "Of Mist and Mercury" by Emily Steele

Ballet, hip hop, modern, postmodern...Influences from Mexico, Africa, Egypt, Asia...Themes of identity, relationship, inner turmoil...How a hunter feels about animal prey, how women endure the Dust Bowl... All explored and evoked in movement, in expressions Of Breath and Body. 

Of Breath and Body is on the Van Duzer Theatre stage Thursdays-Saturdays, April 9-11 and 16-18 at 7:30 p.m. with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday April 19. Tickets are $10/$8 seniors and students, with a limited number of free seats for HSU students at each performance, from the HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door.  Sharon Butcher, Artistic Director. Produced by HSU Theatre, Film & Dance.

Media: Cover: Urge Magazine of Eureka Times Standard,Mad River Union, North Coast Journal, Humboldt State Now

Allie Phinney in "Reverence"

Seven student choreographers and three faculty members present their latest works in this year’s HSU dance concert, Of Breath and Body.

The ten dances range from a solo by senior Allie Phinney (“Reverence”)... 

Shannon Adams, Nikia Klat, Matt McGovern, Camille Ruiz, Walter Fogler in "Standing Here, With Red Feathered Gods"

...to a work for 24 dancers by Artistic Director Sharon Butcher (“Standing Here, With Red-Feathered Gods.”)

Lauren Baker in Amethysts Weburg's "Signal the Shake"

“Signal the Shake” by senior Amethyst Weburg won the Audience Choice Award at the fall 2014 Choreographer Showcase. “She’s from a multi-generation Arcata family,” Sharon Butcher said, “and she’s got a great work ethic. It’s great to see her have fun with this energetic dance celebrating women.”

Fiona Melia and Dante Gelermino in their dance, "Variations of Two."

Fiona Melia and Dante Gelermino explore personal relationships, while Claire Patterson is inspired by Dorothea Lang’s photographs to evoke the lives of women enduring the 1930s Dust Bowl.

Lauren Baker, Claire Patterson (standing) in Walter Fogler's "The Life We Choose"

Several students this year are science majors combined with dance majors or minors. Walter Fogler, a graduating Cellular Molecular Biology major (along with Interdisciplinary Dance) explores the flow within human relationships in “The Life We Choose.” Senior Emily Steele, who majors in biochemistry, evokes the flow of natural processes in “Of Mist and Mercury.”  Majoring in Marine Biology, Emily Pinckney looks at inner turmoil in “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend.”

Allie Phinney, Hannah Moss, Nathalie Mostrel in Shoshanna's "Hepcat Hafla"

The faculty-created dances share an accidental theme of crossovers. “Shoshanna always plays in that Middle Eastern crossover area, and this year Linda Maxwell, who has done a lot of study in Mexican Folklorico, is doing something of a crossover with modern Latin jazz,” Butcher said. “Eugene Novotney from our Music faculty introduced me to a score by Christopher Rouse that uses hula rhythms. So my dance is to that music, with a nod to the things I love about traditional hula.”

OF BREATH AND BODY: The Dances

Camille Ruiz, Nikia Klat, Cassandra Cree, Lauren Baker, Lisa Drew

        Signal the Shake

 Choreographer: Amethyst Weburg
Dancers: Allie Phinney, Camille Ruiz, Cassandra Cree, Emily Mensing, Julia Kandus, Lauren Baker, Lisa Drew, Nikia Klat, Samantha Ortega.

 A fusion of jazz and tap with a nod to East Indian dance traditions, celebrating women.

Claire Patterson and Walter Fogler

  Voces...del pasado y del presente 

Choreographer: Linda Maxwell
Dancers: Ambar Cuevas, Amber Rivas, Cassandra Cree, Claire Patterson, Fiona Melia, Hasti Srabi, Ingrid Hodel, Jonny Wisan, Matt McGovern, Nikia Klat, Samuel Hernandez, Shannon Adams, Walter Fogler.

 “Voices...past and present” explores traditional Mexican folklorico dance as it meets contemporary Latin styles, with traditional music from Veracruz and a Mexican techno band.

Amethyst Weburge, Lisa Drew, Walter Fogler, Claire Patterson

  Of Mist & Mercury

Choreographer: Emily Steele
Dancers: Allie Phinney, Amethyst Weburg, Cassandra Cree, Claire Patterson, Lauren Baker, Walter Fogler.

Combining ballet and modern dance to explore flowing currents in such natural phenomena as mist and mercury.

Natalie Johnson, Luz Mejia (front), Hannah Moss, Nathalie Mostrel, Allie Phinney

  Hepcat Hafla 

Choreographer: Shoshanna
 Dancers: Jeanne Martin, Jenny Wright, Julia Kandus, Luz Mejia, Natalie Johnson, Nathalie Mostrel, Valerie Rios, Veronica Brooks, Allie Phinney, Cybil Nelson, Emily Mensing, Emily Pinckney, Hannah Moss.

 Blending American Tribal Style Belly Dance, jazz and swing with a dash of Egyptian Raks Sharqi in an exuberant celebration of passion and joie de vivre.

Emily Pinckney, Amethyst Weburg (back), Rebeka Staub, Lisa Drew (back)

   broken down, trembling

 Choreographer: Claire Marie Patterson
 Dancers: Amethyst Weburg, Camille Ruiz, Emily Pinckney, Lisa Drew, Rebekah Staub.

 Postmodern evocation of  farm women enduring the 1930s Dust Bowl, inspired by Dorothea Lang’s photographs.

Allie Phinney

  Reverence 

Choreographer: Allie Phinney
Dancer: Allie Phinney

 A modern solo exploring the complex relationship between hunter and animal prey.

Lauren Baker, Claire Patterson, Cassandra Cree

The Life We Choose

 Choreographer: Walter Fogler
 Dancers: Camille Ruiz, Cassandra Cree, Claire Patterson, Kassie Guimapang, Lauren Baker, Rebekah Staub, Walter Fogler.

 Athletic modern piece with a contemporary twist, suggesting struggles and unspoken boundaries within a relationship.

Fiona Melia, Dante Gelormino

Variations of Two 

Choreographer: Fiona Melia and Dante Gelormino
 Dancers: Dante Gelormino, Fiona Melia

 A postmodern approach to risk and reward in the collision of two dancers.

Camille Ruiz, Nikia Klat, Shannon Adams, Samantha Ortega, Walter Fogler, Matt McGovern

  Standing Here, with Red Feathered Gods

 Choreographer: Sharon Butcher
Dancers: Alyssa Krueger, Amanda Johnson, Austin Silavong, Ayanna Wilson, Camille Ruiz, Edgar Ocelotl, Emily Mensing, Emily Pinckney, Emily Steele, Ginger Greenlee, Hilde Isachsen, Ingrid Hodel, Jenny Wright, Justin Betancourt, Kassie Guimapang, Kirsten Williams, Lamont Douglas, Matt McGovern, Moira Winchell, Nikia Klat, Samantha Ortega, Shannon Adams, Valerie Rios, Walter Fogler.

 Inspired by ancient Hawaiian hula, to a score by contemporary American composer Christopher Rouse.