Elon dance students perform in nature-inspired concert

Dance in the Landscape Concert features original choreography, movement invention

Students performed in choreographer Amy Beasley's "Topographic Print #3: Gather."

Sept. 22, 2008
By Rachel Cieri

Students performed in the informal Dance in the Landscape concert Sunday, Sept. 21, which was coordinated by Artisitic Director Cherie Bower. Made up of four original pieces, the concert was inspired by the shapes and movements of Elon’s campus.

Choreograher Amy Beasley explained her work on the concert’s opening dance “Topographic Print #3: Gather,” saying that it was one in a series.

“I’ve used the movement material before but never in this way. I work in a painterly sort of way with movement. This is a print, a sort of sketch,” said Beasley.

Senior Allie Lochary performs her solo in "Topographic Print #3: Gather."

Dancers in this piece were dressed in neutral whites, browns and khakis while performing amongst trees near the edge of Lake Mary Nell. Two dancers on either side of the natural set were wrapped in an off-white fabric attached to adjacent trees and gradually unwound themselves throughout the dance, reaching for one another. The rest of the dancers moved in two groups, attracting the audience’s focus alternately. Dance student Matina Phillips described the movement invention as “meditative.”

A second piece entitled “Door Dance” used spoken words rather than music as an audio aid. A small ensemble of four dancers used the brick patio outside of the Center for the Arts for their performance. Audience members were given slips of paper with a number and words on it, and they were instructed to say the words when the dancers called out their numbers. Audience members could be heard saying, “What are you looking for?” and “Show me what’s behind door number one.”

“I work a lot with improvisation in choreographed dances like this one. I also love to work with text, and in improvisation it’s not uncommon to have no rules or rules made to be broken. In dance we generally think it’s a movement medium exclusively, so I’m challenging that,” said choreographer Julie Mulvihill.

The dancers in this piece were Kathleen Boyle, Elise Porter, Michele Micca and Ann Sterling Dale.

“Door Dance”
Choreographed by Jill Mulvihill

“Pie Jesu,” which was choreographed by Virginia Dupont, used just three dancers dressed in gray to perform a more conventional piece. Dancers Erin Ftizgerald, Caitlyn Juengel and Meg Ralston-Asumendi began behind trees near the edge of the lake and gradually worked their way to the grassy rectangle behind the Center for the Arts, where they performed most of the dance.

“Pie Jesu”
Choreographed by Virginia Dupont

Jen Guy choreographed “Act 5,” a re-make of “Swan Lake.” The piece is intended to represent what happened after the end of the classic ballet. Dancers utilized the patio, benches and brick wall for the comical piece, which depicted a family of swans. Dancers included Allie Hines, Claire James, Stephanie Olsen, Jenna Farley, Rachel Perlman and Ann Sterling Dale.

“Act 5”
Choreographed by Jen Guy