'New Dances' Presents a Collage of Choreography

Author: Jasmin Johnson

The Dance and Theatre Department's annual production "New Dances" saw an encouraging turnout. Each night, the seven newly choreographed dances by the students of Intermediate Dance (TD260) were showcased. The courses' purpose, according to the program, was to "explore the experience of moving bodies in space through the use and simple placement of simple design elements." In this particular staging, the design elements were poles of different heights. All issues in the show were framed by the placement of these design constructs.
The first piece was Devon Parish '05's "One Foot at a Time" performed by Parish, Michael Crowley '05, Carolyn Gersh '04, Nicole Grohoski '05 and Christopher Howard '03. Choreographed as a reflection on her own notions of love, the dance contained some very interesting sequences -- such as the collective putting on of different shoes on a string and the switching of shoes midway through the dance to shoes placed at the foot of the framing poles. Dancers donned all sorts of footwear: clogs, loafers, flip-flops and even fluffy bunny bedroom slippers.
"A Part" was the second piece, choreographed by Katie MacDonald '03 and set to Do Make Say Think's "If I Only" and "Highway 420." Grace Kronenberg '06, Leah Koenig '04, Alexander Rhinehart '05 and Jenny Kaplan '06 performed this very absorbing piece. The piece juxtaposed oppositional moves -- kinesthetic representations of standing and falling, openness and closeness.
Next was "Grounded," Michael Azzara's '03 contribution to the show. This piece contained the theme of farming. Beginning with the humorous "wheeling" in of Charles Mahal '03 by Ben Brouwer '04, the piece also included ritualistic "planting" and the learning process of swatting mosquitoes.
"Meniscus" was choreographed by Sara Stranovsky '04 and performed by first years Hannah Giles, Kaplan and Koenig. This was an electrifying piece, which won the appreciation of the crowd because of how it changed the mood of the evening with an energetic frenzy of choreography.
The next piece, "A History of Surfaces in Three Parts," was choreographed by Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Peter Schmitz in collaboration with the dancers in the piece. The piece was designed to be a men's piece, and represented a new effort from the dance department.
After this, Dance Artist-in-Residence Amy Chavasse performed and choreographed a solo entitled "Vanessa and Vanessa." The piece was set to the beautiful soprano voice of Barbara Bonney.
"Girls! Girls! Girls!" was the fourth annual newcomer's piece, and the highlight of the evenings. Directed by Lecturer in Dance Penny Campbell, this was a debut for dancers who had never performed in a program-sponsored concert before. This year it was performed by seven new dancers, all first-years, who helped create the movement material: Kate Elias, Lauren Fredston-Hermann, Hannah Giles, Alexandra Hay, Sheena James, Kaplan and Ena Yasuhara.
Clad entirely in black, the girls danced to the interesting "collage" of music assembled by Michael Chorney, the music director for dance -- everything from Bach to SmashMouth to Grover Washington Jr. The rigorous dance was brisk and the girls artistically executed jumping kicks, quick swirls and swift sprints across the stage.
The show was successful in that it exposed the Middlebury community to fresh new faces and gave student choreographers a chance to showcase and gain feedback from their work.