April 2012: OF TIME AND RHYTHM Dance Concert

Danielle Gutierrez in Linda Maxwell’s tribute to dance in Broadway and Hollywood musicals, Slap That Bass.

From hip hop to ballet, Broadway to contemporary, HSU student dancers present their annual spring concert for five performances beginning Wednesday April 11—including a dance recently honored at the American College Dance Festival.

Media Previews: North Coast Journal, Humboldt State Now, Tri-City Weekly, Arcata Eye, North Coast Journal Calendar

Of Time and Rhythm is performed in the Van Duzer Theatre at HSU, Wednesday through Saturday, April 11 to 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday April 15 at 2 p.m. $10/$8 with a limited number of free seats to HSU students at each performance, from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Directed by Sharon Butcher, produced by HSU Department of Theatre, Film and Dance.

                              Aimee Page and Walter Fogler in Follow, choreographed by Kelly Gordon.

Titled Of Time and Rhythm, the concert features 10 original dances: seven choreographed by students and three by HSU faculty. “There’s so much variety this year,” said Artistic Director Sharon Butcher, “that there’s really something for everyone. Our dancers are very strong, so performances are guaranteed to be very exciting.”

   Roland Garcia, Kassandra Guimapang, Abigail Grebe, Melina Calderon in Off Duty by Gina Lee.

The theme of time and rhythm is expressed in this variety. In Off Duty, Dance Studies major Gina Lee uses street dance, jazz and hip hop to create “a really wonderful, very joyful dance,”Sharon Butcher said, “that should warm everyone’s heart.” In stylistic contrast, HSU dance teacher Erin Fernandez McKeever employs ballet to express the movements of stars patterned in the night sky, in Constellations.

     In It Isn’t As It Was by Erika Burg: Leila Deschuytter, Jasmine Wolfe, Kendall Lewis, Marissa Young.

Revealing more serious themes, student choreographers Kelly Gordon and Erika Berg each explore in different ways the shifting patterns of support and solace among people coping with life-changing circumstances. A solo by third year Dance Studies major Jasmine Wolfe expresses a personal struggle.

Student choreographers also find inspiration in their other studies at HSU. Shelby House, a Dance and Religious Studies double major, became intrigued by a phenomenon she learned in a psychobiology class: that people adapt to one another’s physical rhythms. “In exploring this idea, she created a dance in which individuals merge together and break off again,” Butcher said.

Hannah Lautze, another Religious Studies and Dance major, sets three classical goddesses in motion. “One of the ways she describes this dance is balancing the feminine and the fierce.”

In Constellations by Erin Fernandez McKeever: (front) Aimee Page, Emily Steele, Kelly Gordon. (back) Allison Rosati, Erika Burg.

The dances by Jasmine Wolfe and Hannah Lautze were also shown at the American College Dance Festival in Utah. To support this festival participation and other HSU dance special programs, tickets to win prizes ranging from a Kindle reader to $100 gift certificates for Wildberries and the Outdoor Store will be sold at all performances. Winners will be drawn at the Sunday matinee.

Of Time and Rhythm: The Dances

                                                            Jasmine Wolfe, Danielle Gutierrez, Erika Burg.

Playful Cadence
Choreographer: Marissa Young

A light-hearted confrontation between tap dancers and contemporary-style dancers. Senior Dance Studies minor Marissa Young presents the playful struggle between a lack of control and the exhaustion resulting from too much control. “Marissa is a multi-talent dancer, and one of her strengths is tap—as a matter of fact, she’s teaching tap-dancing here on campus," said Artistic Director Sharon Butcher.  "Her process of figuring out how to combine tap dance and contemporary choreography on stage simultaneously and still make sense resulted in this dance. It was a great process and I think it turned out really well.”

                                           Kassandra Guimapang, Natalie Daughton, Jennifer Wright.

Entropy
Choreographer: Shelby House

Inspired by a principle in psychobiology that beings adapt to one another’s rhythms, senior Dance Studies and Religious Studies major Shelby House portrays individuals in a cycle of merging and breaking off again, finding order and falling into chaos. Described as "abstract and comical," this dance is meant to be psychologically stimulating and metaphorically intriguing.

                                                 Kara Ajetunmobi, Kelly Gordon, Lyndsey Lascheck.

O’numinous
Choreographer: Hannah Lautze

Three dancers portray Greek goddesses: Artemis, goddess of the hunt and childbirth; Athena, goddess of war and wisdom; Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Using these archetypes, Dance Studies major Hannah Lautze explores bodies as architecture expressing the inner divine. “One of the ways she describes this dance is balancing the conflicts between the feminine and the fierce,” said Sharon Butcher. “The dancers can be lush and full of womanly grace in one moment, and then very powerful and commanding in the next.”

                                                                                          Jasmine Wolfe

Climbing Across The Table
Choreographer: Jasmine Wolfe

Third year Dance Studies major Jasmine Wolfe choreographs and dances this solo glimpse into a personal and emotional battle. Believing herself to be alone, the dancer allows herself to express intense feelings through movements that vary from unnerving slowness to crisp sharpness. “There’s a lovely and poignant and gripping intensity to it,” said Sharon Butcher, “danced to the perfect choice, a John Cage score.”

                                                        Aimee Page, Walter Fogler, Briana Hare.

Follow
Choreographer: Kelly Gordon

One woman is guided by six others on her venture into the unknown, in a dance that moves between gentle and aggressive persuasion until the moment of acceptance. Senior Dance Studies major Kelly Gordon explores the boundaries of fate. “Kelly is one of our scholarship dancers, and a double major in Art. She’s a talented artist and art scholar as well as a very talented dancer. This dance is about a time of transition, and a woman who is not quite ready or brave enough to change, but with the help of almost guardian angels she moves on to the next phase in her life.” 

                                      Abigail Grebe, Roland Garcia, Melina Calderon, Kassandra Guimapang.

Off Duty
Choreographer: Gina Lee

Five dancers and a beatboxer explore and celebrate funky movement and rhythm, creating complex beats and patterns that bring diverse individuals and styles together. Senior Dance Studies major Gina Lee shows that “with a beat bigger than our own to play with, ‘unity’ doesn’t have to mean ‘unison.’” “This is a really delightful piece,” said Sharon Butcher. “Her dancers mix street dance, jazz and hip hop to create a joyful dance that should warm everybody’s heart.”

                                       Jasmine Wolfe, Leila Deschuytter, Kendall Lewis, Marissa Young.

It Isn’t As It Was
Choreographer: Erika Burg

A contemporary dance that explores the interrelations of support and subjective experience in a time of crisis, leading to a recognition of irrevocable change. Fourth year Dance Studies minor Erika Burg was inspired by witnessing a loved one’s struggle with major surgery. “Erika has a strong ballet background but she’s expanded her abilities to become a really confident contemporary choreographer. This dance represents a community of support to help the one who is suffering, who has to re-learn how to live in the world.”

                                                                Aimee Page, Erika Burg.

No Ecosystems Were Harmed During the Making of This Dance
Choreographer: Sharon Butcher

A dance in four sections, with a cast of 20. With whimsical costumes and props all constructed and re-invented from found materials (including musical instruments), it reveals the importance and possibilities of “re-use, re-cycle and re-purpose.” This dance was selected as one of the 10 Best Dances at the Northwest Conference American College Dance Festival in March, and featured in the coveted gala performance on the closing night. Adjudicators referred to “imaginative,” “extremely clever” and “witty” choreography for a “hilariously vaudevillian-futuristic” dance, and complimented the student performers as “perfect.” Said one: “Trash never looked so brilliant.”

          In Constellations: Fernandez McKeever: Aimee Page, Emily Steele, Allison Rosati.

Constellations
Choreographer: Erin Fernandez McKeever

A ballet inspired by the movement of the stars in the night sky, depicting stellar formations plotted on the celestial sphere, with Polaris, the North Star. “Erin’s piece is a really beautiful ballet, with slow and subtle but very striking movements,” said Sharon Butcher. “Originally the dancers weren’t going to be ‘on point,’ but they were doing such a beautiful job, Erin decided to go ahead and give them that extra challenge.” Music by Ray Lynch.

Slap That Bass
Choreographer: Linda Maxwell

A four part musical theatre number following the classic musical story of boy-meets girl etc., until they realize that life isn’t worth living unless they ‘slap that bass.’ Dance Studies professor Linda Maxwell choreographs 18 dancers in this tribute to Broadway and Hollywood musical dancing. “For our informal evening of dance last year, Linda had her jazz class do an assortment of musical theatre numbers,” said Sharon Butcher. “They were so fabulous and the dancers had so much fun, I asked her if she would create a montage of musicals for this concert. She found a through-line and choreographed a crisp and spicy dance, with all the best things we love about musical theatre. It’s completely entertaining from beginning to end.”