A single spotlight shines on a girl as violin music over a deep dub bass line plays on the stage of the Dougherty Dance Theatre on Thursday night; the opening of the UO Department of Dance’s spring undergraduate dance concert. Her simple movements have an ease that is only achievable by a dancer’s natural grace, an example of the athleticism involved in this particular art.
Titled Resonance: A choreographic evening of artistic humanity, the concert consists of 11 new works of dance choreographed by 11 graduating seniors in the department.
The show features a variety of styles of dance, from modern to hip hop, but what every piece has in common is its ability to evoke feeling through music, choreography and the dancers’ expressions.
Besides the sheer creativity and talent of the choreographers and dancers, the most impressive aspect of this show may be the variety provided. Some pieces are more synchronized, while others have no synchronization at all. Some pieces are emotional and jarring, while others are humorous and light-hearted. The music ranges from custom created hip hop to ambient electronic mixes. Other times, the music is gone and the dancers provide all the sound through clapping, stomping and simply dancing.
A piece titled “It was mine first,” choreographed by senior Marika Theofelis features a voiceover she wrote and recorded herself. Junior dance major Stephanie Ennes performed in the piece.
“It’s about a relationship and women having their own voice in a relationship and not being taken advantage of. It’s also about embracing your body,” Ennes said. “It’s a show for everyone. There are so many different choreographers and styles brought to life.”
Another piece featured a flag football setup with a voiceover about the theory of evolution and theory of competition. The piece featured 10 dancers and showed an interesting connection between movement in dance and in sports, as well as how people relate to one another competitively.
Senior dance major Shynna Harper choreographed a dance called “#HPSTA GRL,” about generational differences, as well as getting a 9-5 job to fuel creative dreams.
“Our generation and our parents’ (generation) have technological differences. We try to be so different from our parents but at the same time, we get so much from them,” Harper said.
The three dancers in the piece, who surprisingly are not dance majors, sport black sports bras, flannel shirts and black sunglasses by the end.
Tiare Brown, a junior biology major who performs in Harper’s piece, encourages students of all majors to see the show.
“A lot of people think (the dance concert) is strictly modern, but Shynna threw in stuff people in our generation like, like hip hop,” Brown said.
Check out the spring dance concert this Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. in the Dougherty Dance Theatre on the second floor of Gerlinger Annex. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for community members. The show runs about 90 minutes with an intermission. For more information, check out the Facebook page.