Artist's Offerings; a Critique

As I have mentioned in this blog, the a constant in my life has been dance, ballet mainly. I truly love it ans for those who have never experienced dance I recomend it with all my heart. This is a critique of a dance performace last weekend hosted by the University of Idaho and performed by dancers in the U of I's dance program. If you're ever in town come check it out!

Last Friday’s performance of Artists’ Offerings had a lot to offer. I saw many pieces that were moving either emotional or charismatically, had charm and elegance and there were some that I thought could have been presented a lot better. For my critique I am going to discuss the performance from a member of the audience’s perspective and as a performer/ dancer in general.
Starting with Loved and Cared For choreographer, Mary Heller, this piece was really well fashioned and had a lot of meaning to the choreographer with was nicely executed in the dancers facial features and body language. The piece was able to communicate two people who work together through love and when the end comes fall apart together in love. The music was especially moving and when “What’ll I do” began to fill the auditorium I started to tear up. The choreographer’s note was appropriate and I thought the piece was polished and complete.
Vegas and Me, choreographer Gregory Halloran this piece was different and could have been very tasteless but it was not. The music especially had many members of the audience talking, but once the theme of the piece set in, so did the audience’s laughter. The dancers really communicated to the audience and I was enjoyable to watch. It was a little edgy and could have been interpreted in several ways, but with the slide show in the back ground the message was clear. This piece was also especially emotional at the end and had a nice finish.
I also really want to discuss Digital Stasis, choreographer Christopher K. Morgan. This piece has special interest to me because Mr. Morgan was a guest lecturer in class and also did a performance for the class. I honestly preferred his class performance because it was original and interesting. Digital Stasis fell into a category of predictable, ordinary and average. Because, the University of Idaho’s dance program is more geared toward modern dance, this is expected by the audience, someone like me who has been coming to these performances for many years and I want something fun and spicy and honestly less modern. This is particularly my reasoning for why I feel that this piece although the performance was executed nicely by the dancers and the choreography was good, I did not like the costume, music or lighting, which didn’t help my opinions. A good contrast of this piece was Kodou, choreographer, Mia Seshiki. I really enjoyed this piece, the lighting was fun and enticing, the dancing was very good, the costumes were bright and colorful and I liked the choreography; it was easy to watch and got the loudest applause. I do have a critique of this piece but it does not apply to the performance, but to the audience. Most of the dancers had solos and difficult technique to perform and the audience did not notice of applaud for any of the solos. I found that ridiculous that the audience is so uneducated about dance and the level of difficulty for the dancers that they were not received correctly on stage and most of the audience was filled with dancers themselves.
A couple pieces that I also thought had especially interesting choreography was The Thing Among Us, choreographer Morgen Bihl this piece had great use of color and music and it was really interesting and fun to watch. I also especially liked Pain Within, choreographer Elena Hicks, this piece had great costumes and was easy to watch, the lighting is awkward in the beginning and makes it a little difficult to see, but the dancers seemed very agile and the piece was something that made me want to dance and be a part of.
I love to dance and nothing has been a bigger constant in my life then dance. I t has been the one thing that has just made everything right in my world, however small that may be and I could not possibly trade all the experience and friends that I have made through it. My biggest critique every year is the same, I want more variation. I want more ballet and more jazz and more hip hop, I know that we have excellent teachers and choreographers on campus, why waste all their talents, showcase them. I know that this is of course my preference and not everyone feels the same way, but I feel that the audience would get more involved and there would be a lot more dancers interested in Dance Theatre if there was something more to perform in. I honestly believe that every dance style has its value and I do enjoy watching and performing in modern pieces, however I want to see more than only modern and one ballet piece, one is just not enough for me.
I think that, that itself is the hardest part of choreography because you want your dancers to enjoy it, you want the audience to understand and love it and you want to feel proud of the work you’ve done, all the pieces that I have mentioned accomplished this task in my mind.