A painting can be brought to life. Last Friday, Nov. 19, the SLCC Dance Company put on their annual fall performance entitled Movement Gallery.
Movement Gallery featured thirteen dances done by various groups from the SLCC Dance Company, a few adjunct members of the SLCC dance faculty, as well as members of the SLCC Tap Company.
All of the dances were inspired by various forms of visual art from painters like Pablo Picasso to photographs of tap dancers. The dances were choreographed by various people including former and current adjunct dance faculty members and a few guest choreographers.
The first dance entitled “First Draft” was inspired by the painter Jackson Pollack. The costumes were designed and constructed entirely by the SLCC Fashion Institute students and Natosha Washington was the guest choreographer. The dance itself was very fitting for the visual artist it was inspired by.
Jackson Pollack’s art looks like a bunch of paint splattered on a canvas with no real direction. The random, eye catching dance moves coupled with the dancers coming on stage in various small groups, did just what Pollack’s art would do if it were to move. There was so much happening on the stage that it was hard to focus on one specific part of the dance. The movements were very interesting and modern as was the music, a catchy electronic tune by Jerry Abstract.
An adjunct member of the SLCC dance faculty, Marsha Pabalis, performed the next dance solo entitled “Frederic and Marsha” to a song by the Polish composer Fredric Chopin, performed by Claudio Arrau.
Pablis’s movements were very jerky and repetitive although artistic and interesting. It didn’t seem very much like the flowery painting’s by Georgia O’Keefe the dance was inspired by.
The jazzy paintings by Romare Bearden inspired the next dance entitled “Chicago.”
The next two performances, “Yes, Indeed” and “Military Rhythms,” were performed by members of the SLCC Tap Company and both were done a cappella.
“Yes, Indeed” had five dancers spent the entire dance in chairs which would probably prove to be fairly difficult with out practice.
“Military Rhythms” was inspired by famous tap dance photographs and performed by four members of the SLCC Tap company.
The most outrageous of the performances, only because it seemed to differentiate from most of the other dances, was “Art is Not a Crime.” Michale Hettich, an SLCC Dance Company member was the choreographer and the graffiti artist, Banksy, is what inspired the dance. The music was several hip-hop artists meshed together including Missy Elliot and LMFAO.
The very last performance included the entire Dance Company once again and was entitled “Tango Flamenco.” The song was “Del Amanecer” by Joes Merce and the visual inspiration behind the Spanish flavored dance was various flamenco dancers pained by Mai Griffin, Sera M. Knight and Fabian Perez.
SLCC’s Dance Company is a talented group of performers that will surely entertain. Their spring concert will be on April 15 and 16, 2011 in the Grand Theatre at SLCC’s South City Campus.
Those people that didn’t attend a performance this weekend missed out, although something could be said about the etiquette of a few audience members at Friday’s performance. A good way to throw the dancers off beat and annoy the rest of the crowd is to hoot and holler, clap and make noises during a performance.