Photo by Stefan Duga
AMBER MATTICE
Assistant Reverb editor
The lights dimmed and soft, whimsical music filled the Marvel Theatre on the night of April 8. The audience members were immediately engrossed in the performance before them, although they had no idea what was in store.
Fredonia Dance Ensemble had been preparing for this show since September and had been working tirelessly to ensure it would be perfect once it finally hit the stage.
When asked what it was like to finally have an audience, Molly Carriero, a junior BFA dance major, said it was amazing.
“We put so much work into our rehearsals and going from September all the way up until now … it’s a relief and it’s exciting,” she said. “I love it.”
The first performance titled “Tossing Echos” was choreographed by Tressa Crehan and featured very light and fluid movements from the dancers. The motions resembled that of a more classical nature and the fluidity of the dancers kept the audience’s eyes locked on the stage.
The second performance was completely different. The piece was titled “90% Metaphor” and was choreographed by Sam Kenney. This piece immediately brought the audience to attention.
The dancers on stage were dressed in normal clothing, unlike the previous dance where the dancers were wearing matching dresses that varied in color. There was no music at the beginning but a spoken word poem that the dancers were moving to.
As the poem increased in speed, music was added and the dancer’s movements became faster. The motions were jerkier and in time with the emphasized words of the poem. This piece was particularly powerful and voiced a critique of society.
Photo by Stefan Duga
“One of my favorite pieces to do is ‘90% Metaphor’ — one because I think it is very important; it has a very powerful message and brings some variety to the show,” said junior dance and public relations double major Tess Grosvenor. “… [and] two because I think it’s interesting because it has two different casts … so it was really great to work with a double.”
The juxtaposition between the two performances carried through the night. One dance would be choreographed around a classical tone and the next would be more contemporary.
There was no particular theme this year and the Fredonia Dance Ensemble made sure to include as much variety as was possible.
There was a more comedic, theatrical piece and there were very serious pieces that touched on issues prevalent in our society.
“The fourth dance [‘On the Streets,’ choreographed by Ann Gavit and Debra Knapp] was probably my favorite,” said Celina Kyrk, a freshman double major in public relations and media management. “I loved how it showed the competitiveness of our world and how it just makes you feel like you have to stick out so badly that you have to push other people down around you from school into your career.”
The talents of the the dancers were showcased through their expressive movements and interactions with the audience. The effects added to the tone of each performance as the lighting varied depending on the message of the dance.
One piece in particular was entirely different from the rest and had the audience laughing the entire time.
The fifth dance performed was choreographed by Helen Myers and was titled “meditations, or perhaps hallucinations, on the unified field of string theory, particularly how it applies to landscape and other unrelated phenomenon, and the possibility of five to eleven parallel universes existing simultaneously in alternative dimensions.”
“I was really curious to see how they would incorporate the costume changes and the wigs and the lights. I knew there was going to be a disco ball and it wasn’t a traditional type of dance. It was very character-ey,” said Jacquelyne Ambrosio, a freshman double major in musical theater and dance. “I was really interested to see how it turned out.”
Carriero added, “It’s so different and comedy is really hard to do but [Myers] does it so well. It’s such a great group of dancers and seeing all of the different aspects of it put together was really cool.”
It was very evident that the dancers and choreographers and everyone backstage had put so much of themselves into this performance. The audience appeared to have enjoyed themselves through their vigorous applause and standing ovation.