November 5, 2006

Participating in Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Community Performance

I spent the last week rehearsing and performing in Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's community performance portion of "Still Crossing" at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland.

"Still Crossing," choreographed by Liz Lerman and the company, was one of three works that were performed as part of The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange's 30th Anniversary Introspective. The other works were "Man/ Chair Dances" and "Small Dances About Big Ideas." (In the reviews I link to below, you can learn more about these pieces.)

"Still Crossing - Company and Community Members
Photo Credit: By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post

(I'm not in above picture :( -- The shot is of stage right to center. I was on stage left.)

It was a lot of fun to be part of this dance performance and meet the about 50 community participants. The Dance Exchange company members who worked with the community dancers, Martha Wittman, Elizabeth Johnson and Peter DiMuro, brought a tremendous amount of enthusiasm, commitment and patience to teaching us the dance phrase and staging our entrances and movements.

Sarah Kaufman writes in "Liz Lerman, Still Keeping The Audience On Its Toes" in Washington Post:

Many of the revolutionary ideas that Lerman embraced back in the 1970s don't seem so far out now. But she has long been considered a pioneer -- for creating works in which the dancers speak as well as move, for casting elderly dancers alongside those in their 20s and for making art from everyday, ordinary movements and gestures. Her notions about what dance is and who gets to do it have become ever broader as she has welcomed nondancers into her works, something she did in "Still Crossing," which closed Thursday's program.

Jean Battey Lewis concludes in her review in "Lerman steps forth with ideas" in The Washington Times:

The evening concluded with "Still Crossing," commissioned for the celebration of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty. It brought together onstage Dance Exchange members and about 50 people from the Washington area, who looked almost as disparate as Dance Exchange itself. It was a fitting finale to a grand evening.

LEARNING THE DANCE PHRASE

The community portion of "Still Crossing" comprises the last few minutes of this dance piece. The first two thirds or so are danced by company members. Then the community dancers enter the stage from each of the wings in staggered fashion and perform a three minute dance phrase in conjunction with company members. A community dancer is essentially a volunteer who wants to participate. No dance background is required to participate.

We started learning this dance movement a week ago on Saturday and Sunday at Dance Exchage's studios. Then, our rehearsals moved to the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center last Monday and Wednesday. And then we performed Thursday and Friday night.

When I started to learn the phrase, it felt a little overwhelming, but by Monday I pretty much had the movements down and it ended-up being easier than I thought. In Thursday night's performance I think I was out of synch a couple of times and in Friday's performance I felt that I did a better job - that was good since I was further downstage during the second performance.

I really enjoyed watching the company members perform and rehearse the first sections of "Still Crossing" from the wings. It's fascinating to see how the choreography unfolds and how the dancers include bits and pieces of the movement phrase we were taught. Company dancers included Robbie Cook, Thomas Dwyer, Elizabeth Johnson, Cassie Meador, Peg Schaefer, Shula Strassfeld, Vincent Thomas and Martha Wittman.

Looking back at the past week, I can't believe that I was hesitant about participating in this community dance program. It was a great experience and I'm definitely looking forward to participating in the next one.

Trackback Pings

2 Comments