The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 1/27/05 Section: Arts

Media Credit: Sixiao Huo Near-graduates Julia Basso ´04.5 (left) and Kate Stamper ´04.5 perform a series of collaborations

Julia Basso '04.5 and Kate Stamper '04.5 presented their collaborative senior work, "Transient Networks," Friday and Saturday nights in the CFA Dance Theatre, choreographing and performing in solos, duets and group pieces that aimed towards "integrating the themes of science, art, and the individual." Both Basso and Stamper are double Dance and Neuroscience majors. The theme of the performance stemmed from an interest in exploring the relationship between science and art, with a particular emphasis on the nervous system (the individual), -- a parallel theme to that explored by the Seeler Studio play presented this weekend, "Experiment with an Air Pump," which examined science, art and relationships.

Aside from the title of one work, "Apoptosis" (a genetically determined process of cell self-destruction that is marked by the fragmentation of nuclear DNA), space-age costuming which used panels of clear plastic to form skirts reminiscent of The Jetsons, or the bright white lighting and white costumes of the final dance which evoked a hospital or psychiatric ward, there was very little science evident in the performance. The dances themselves were characteristic of the modern dance produced at Middlebury's dance department, with the exception of a few delightful transgressions.

The opening dance, "Thrill Seekers," choreographed by Amy Chavasse, left one with that peculiarly post-modern feeling of confusion, where the brain seems locked in the question, "What am I watching?" To a twanging female country voice, Basso and Stamper ran into each other and fell down in repetitive frenzied confusion at complete odds with the music.

Three of the dances performed were repetitions from dances created for the fall dance concert., "Backlit Engagement," and "Apoptosis" were Stamper and Basso's group work developed over the fall semester. "Backlit," choreographed by Stamper, gave an impression of hectic urban life that continued the theme of frenzied running from the first dance. Basso's piece, "Apoptosis" had a dark, gothic feel that corresponded to its title of cell self-destruction. Basso's piece had especially good unison choreography, perhaps due to the relationship established between the dancers as they developed some of the choreography through improvisation workshops led by Basso.

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