JACE JACOBS
Special to The Leader
As the semester winds down into Thanksgiving Break, the Theatre and Dance Department has remained full of activity in these last few weeks. Since the beginning of the school year, the Fredonia Dance Ensemble has been hard at work on their recently performed Fall Chamber Concert. This concert was performed six times over two weekends and featured four individually choreographed pieces.
Ella Fish, a sophomore BFA dance major and performer in Anthony Alterio’s DIO, said, “We started [rehearsals] during the second week of school and we had two two-hour rehearsals every week, until tech week and the show.” The director of the concert, Anthony Alterio, said, “[we’ve rehearsed for] a little bit under 50 hours I believe.”
The first of the concert’s pieces, “Say Her Name,” was a historical look into the names and impacts of Black women through dance. The choreographer, Naila Ansari, provided a moving voice-over, providing background information about the Black woman being portrayed and her contribution to the dance world, ending each blurb with the title of the piece. This number is timely and provides a new and prideful way to learn about and celebrate Black history and culture.
“My favorite piece was the second one, ‘Broken,’” said audience member Gabby Medeck. The full title of this piece is “F.L.A.D-Broken,” and it was choreographed by Angelika Summerton. According to Summerton’s note provided on the back of the program, “‘FLAD’ is a Proto-Germanic term for ‘crestfallen’ … it also stands for fear, loneliness, anxiety and depression.” Summerton ended her note by dedicating the piece to those “who are suffering from any of these illnesses in the hope of finding relief.”
In continuing to speak to audience member Medeck, they said, “This was [their] first time seeing [the Fredonia Dance Ensemble], and [they] went into it thinking that it would be like a dance recital, but it definitely wasn’t like that at all. The dynamic elements of the different pieces translate 100%.”
“Limited Visibility,” the third piece, was choreographed by Chrisopher K. Morgan and featured contributions from the performers in the piece. Morgan explained in his note at the back of the program, “…I missed the intimacy between audience and performer … How might I bridge that distance? How could I shift the performer/audience relationship?” This process resulted in Morgan having the performers light themselves while dancing, as opposed to using the lights installed in the Merrins Dance Theatre. Morgan’s desire to draw the audience closer to the work was incredibly successful, and added a unique element to his intricate choreography.
The finale came to the audience through “DIO,” choreographed by Anthony Alterio, a professor of dance at SUNY Fredonia, who was also the director of the concert. After viewing the performance of “DIO,” I asked Alterio to take me through his choreography process. “Usually I have a concept … I know exactly what I want to do, and then I collaboratively work with the students.” Alterio then described his rationale when collaborating with the students: “I can only see the outside of the piece, but [the students are] working on the inside of the piece. For it to be cohesive, it has to look good outside but also feel good on the inside of the piece.”
Ella Fish, the sophomore BFA dance major, described Alterio’s process from the perspective of a performer: “We started with Anthony not knowing what he wanted to do for the piece — it was a completely from-scratch piece. He really just worked with the dancers and made a piece that is really showcasing us and his choreography as a whole. It’s a very interesting piece, if you got to see it, it’s not quite what you would expect, but that’s what we came up with!”
As the crowds in the Merrins lobby dwindled and the crew began clearing out the space, Alterio and I continued discussing how it felt to be closing a show he had put so much time and effort into and worked on for so long. “I am a little bit sad [to be done with the process] because it is one of my favorite pieces I’ve ever created, and the cast is so strong. We just had such a bond … as a queer choreographer, to have that support of my cast … It was freeing.”
Throughout the four pieces presented, the Fredonia Dance Ensemble proved to be an extremely talented group. All of the different styles shown were well-executed and made me glad to be in the audience. If you were unable to attend the fall concert, fear not! There will be a spring concert presented by the Fredonia Dance Company.