B 2• May 3, 2012
A&E
The Chronicle
Michaela Papa/ The Chronicle
The Danceworks Spring Concert featured numerous dance styles and effects. The show was performed on April 30 and May 1.
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he danceworks spring Concert on April 30 and May 1 started off with a surge of power. Black silhouettes appeared dramatically cast against a red-lit background. eminem’s “till i Collapse” began to play a quiet piano tune that merged into a rap with the sound of saluting soldiers. the dancers, dressed in leather jackets and studded hats, stomped out in their combat boots with intense energy. their arms moved in slickly isolated formations like the Ancient egyptian hieroglyphic paintings. they crashed their bodies to the floor on the lyrics “and they stay down” from dJ Khaled’s song “All i do is win.” the dance ended with the performers in army-like formation, grouped solidly together with their hands reaching to the sky and fingers pointed. the crowd erupted into elated cheers after each song, and began them all with cat calls, whistling, and personal cheers for individual dancers. the audience seemed to feed off the fire in the dancers every movement. At times the crowd, a full house at Adams Playhouse, was so uproarious the stage music was overwhelmed. the emotional tone of the show ranged from high-energy hip-hop to heart wrenchingly sorrowful ballet pieces. the choreography by alumna Amanda Gordon, not to mention the hauntingly beautiful dancing in the piece called “twisted tutus” stood out among all the inspired performances. Figures in delicate yellow tutus trickled out onto the stage with their every muscle bound with tension. Beethoven’s “Moonlight sonata” began to unfold the
grave scene. he dancers’ shoulders hung heavily as their arms reached tragically out for something untouchable in the distance. the music drifted into a bittersweet Gary Go version of the song “Just dance.” As the tempo rose so did the emotional turmoil flooding through the dancers’ movements. spinning delicate pirouettes, as well as the tail of a tortured soul only looking for a release through dance, the piece was a story words cannot do justice to. the dancers formed a human cage holding back one dancer from escaping their gripn other moments that won an outbreak of applause and near-riotous acts in the audience were numerous. the seductive, sensuous, spanish-inspired “All day, All night” performance choreographed by junior stephanie Caputo set the playhouse on fire making it feel like a nightclub. The transformation of the dancers, who started as one circle of bodies woven together and blossoming out into individuals across the stage in Julie seal’s “How it ends” was like watching a kaleidoscope breaking off and crashing back together into intricate, enamoring images. the dancers pulled and pushed at each other with structure to their isolated movements, surrendering their limbs and wills to the woeful deVotchKa song. the show ensnared the senses and brought third row center to their feet. Before the curtain fell, the seniors had their final performance and their last bow to the song “we Are Young” by Fun. though there were many dancers with tear-stained faces at the end, they were also sure to keep dancing ecstatically until the show was done.