The Department of Dance will present a collection of faculty- and guest-choreographed pieces today, Friday and Saturday in the Dougherty Dance Theatre. “Dance 2005,” a University tradition since 1959, is a creative outlet for choreographers and a performance opportunity for students, Dance Department Chair Jenifer Craig said.
In recent years, the Department of Dance held its student-choreographed concert in the winter and its faculty- and guest-choreographed concert in the spring. The department decided to swap the dates this year to see if it would provide more rehearsing space and more work time for student choreographers who are also involved with the University of Oregon Repertory Dance Company and Dance Africa, Craig said.
“Dance 2005” will represent a range of moods and styles. Adjunct faculty member Ellie Klopp will present “Short Story (ies),” a piece based on a one-line story performed in eight segments interspersed throughout the show. Associate professor Steven Chatfield created “Life is a Tango. Do you want to dance?” which is a fun, seven-member routine to tango tunes. In music director Christian Cherry and technical director Amy Impellizzeri’s “Happen Stance,” dancers will improvise moves to a set, choreographed structure while Cherry improvises on the piano.
Guests Tim and Corrie Cowart will dance in a romantic duet titled “A River with No Banks,” and dance students Heidi Diaz and Sarah Nemecek will display the choreography of associate professor Amy Stoddart in the duet “SHARDS.” Assistant professor Walter Kennedy designed two pieces for the concert: “Strauss Songs,” a solo on pointe featuring a soprano vocalist and pianist from the School of Music, and “LooneyLand,” a group finale to the music of Raymond Scott.
Klopp’s piece, a reaction to a very short story by Lydia Davis, represents a range of perspectives on the story and was developed through collaboration among dancers. Cherry composed a score for the piece that includes piano music, sounds of corn rustling and a spoken vocalization of the story.
“Each section has its own personality and character,” Klopp said. “But they all stay in a range so they’re identifiable as the same piece. It’s like if you told different sections of a story, they would all still be identifiable as the same story.”
Memories of Warner Brothers’ “Looney Tunes” will likely come to mind during the showing of “LooneyLand.” Dance student JoAnna Bristow, who will perform in the piece, said the cast prepared through improvisation and brainstorming ideas based on what makes cartoons funny. She said that zany gestures, comical patterns and Marx Brothers-inspired moves will bring humor to the piece.
“We will wear crazy-colored tights, funky-colored boxers and shorts, and Technicolor shirts and blazers that are as unfashionable as possible,” she said. “It’s like, why not go overboard?”
Bristow, who has participated in past student-choreographed concerts, said while the student concert showcases much creative talent, the faculty-choreographed concert is often more experimental because they have more time to try new things.
“Faculty members are able to choreograph (for the concert) for many years, while students are only around for a few years,” she said. “They have had a lot of experience and are not afraid to pursue new ideas.”
Craig said that years of experience behind the choreography make the faculty concert stand apart from the student one.
“Students are just beginning to do their creative work,” she said. “The faculty concert displays the creative research of the faculty.”
Tickets for “Dance 2005” are $5 for students and seniors and $10 for the general public and are available at the door beginning at 7 p.m.
The show begins at 8 p.m.
