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Elisa Lopez | Phoenix Staff

Students show off a semester’s worth of intricate flamenco arm movements, or “braceo.”

BY SUNNY COWELL

In print | May 1, 2008

Where can you find flamenco, baroque ballroom, African dance, Taiko and Classical Hindustani all on one stage? The Student Dance Concert, of course!

This past weekend, Friday April 25 and Saturday April 26, talented Swatties gave a tantalizing performance on stage in the Pearson Hall Theatre in LPAC. The Department of Music and Dance presented a well-choreographed show with lots of cultural variety.

The show began with the “Partita Project” choreographed by faculty choreographer Lisa Kraus. Michelle Nguyen ’11, Carmella Ollero ’09, Kate Speer ’08 and Hilary Tanabe ’08 danced to excerpts of J.S. Bach’s “Gigue” and “Chaconne” from Violin Partita No. 2. The dancers recreated a baroque ballroom by setting up a large screen behind them that showed their movements from a bird’s eye view. The effect allowed the audience to see the spins and graceful movements from two different angles. They traded off holding hands, carefully sliding on the stage floor and helping each other up to an upright position. They went on to form shapes as a group that could only be seen from the angle of the screen above.

The next act, “In Absence of ‘Sum’” was very different from the first. It featured traditional kathak dancing and a rap written and performed by James Mendez Hodes ’08 to the beat of Hindustani Classical Music. Mendez stood looking pensive and cool with his arms crossed, dressed in a cap and a long shirt. Four female dancers stood behind him dressed in elaborate skirts in different shades of purple and green. After Hodes’ rap, all of the dancers stomped their feet to the fast tabla beat played by Lenny Seidman.

The women wore long braids and had clanging bangles around their ankles. Adding to the piece were Professor Pallabi Chakravorty’s chants of the phrase “Let it be anguish come still to torment my heart /Come even to leave me again” and the pleasing vocals of Priya Johnson ’11.

In the flamenco piece that followed, entitled “El Grito,” the dance began with only the dancers’ black silhouettes visible on stage. The silhouette of Javier Camacho’s ’09 moved first, as he stretched his arms, dressed in a classy black suit. Slowly the lights came up, drenching the stage in red light and revealing four women with white flowers in their hair, long flowing red skirts and red tops. The dancers pulled off intricate footwork, twirled their skirts and managed to look serious but beautiful.

The following piece incorporated both traditional tap and rhythms created with drum sticks and chairs. The set-up involved plenty of drama on a morning train, including two women fighting over the same seat and several more fawning over Kyle White ’08. The performers wore striped ties, suspenders, white shirts and black pants. White ended the piece by doing twelve consecutive jump splits to the steady beat of the clashing sticks.

After a brief intermission, the Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble announced their presence with a loud yell set to the vibrating strokes of their drums.

Austin Dike ’10 said, “By far my favorite moment was seeing my Japanese sensei beating on those taiko drums with as much youthful vigor and intensity as all the students around her. She totally rocked the house.”

The next act featured Ollero’s own modern dance choreography. The piece used a screen onstage to create intrguing visuals. When two of the dancers were illuminated by the spotlight center stage, the three other dancers danced visible behind the screen.

The last piece “Where I Begin…” was choreographed by C. Kemal Nance ’92 with recorded music by bands Earth, Wind and Fire and Danity Kane. The piece began with three dancers emerging on stage in long white T-shirts. The dancers’ robotic and disjointed movements were accompanied by guest singers and a narrator. The piece’s theme of finding self-esteem and confidence was apparent when the narrator stated, “I am worth every bit of energy I give to everyone else”.

Then three guest artists in head wraps and flowing white robes proceeded to sing, “You’re the children of the sunlight and you deserve the spotlight” continuously. After this, Twan Claiborne ’08 danced enthusiastically in long white pants and a tan shirt. There was a solo dance segment by Kaitlin Smith ’10, after which she was joined by the rest of the female dancers dressed in vibrant turquoise and white.

Smith said, “My favorite moment was at the start of the second half in which I skip out to meet Twan and dance with him for a moment in jubilation and solidarity.”

This last African peice had a beautiful message and lovely dancing. Omar Ramadan ’08, a performer in the last piece, said, “It felt great to dance in such an inspiring piece. I’m glad I was part of something that touched people.”

May Maani ’10 said, “Overall, the concert was great and you could tell that the dancers really worked hard in preparing for it. I especially loved the last piece. it was so beautiful and inspiring.”

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