Movement theater comes to Waldron

Modern dance and improvisational movement meet theater this weekend in the Bloomington Area Arts Council and Meg Anderson co-production of "Waves." \n"Waves" centers around Jill, a woman sitting in a café who shares stories of a vision quest. As this vision quest becomes realized through dialogue, movement, lighting and flashbacks, Jill delves into a dream world where she confronts her demons and emerges stronger. \nThis careful orchestration of words, music and spectacle is designed to be abstractly expressive while maintaining an engaging grip on the audience. Each design element provides a framework to understand the other.\nAnderson said she found inspiration to develop the show in various places, most prominently from her favorite novel, Virginia Woolf's "The Waves," and from working with Nell Weatherwax, an IU alumna who teaches improvisational movement theater in Bloomington.\nIn coordinating these "spots of inspiration," Anderson found the idea of vision quest. "I like creating in the realm of dreams, in the abstract."\nThe play is being billed as movement theater as opposed to dramatic theater.\n"(Movement theater) was a term that encompassed all the arts we were integrating," said choreographer Sarah Wilkins, a senior dance performance and English major at IU. "This is a whole other medium using the body that wouldn't otherwise be there in traditional theater."\n"Waves" utilizes modern dance and other forms of movement to create a unique theatrical experience. The combination of movement, dialogue and design takes the audience to what Anderson described as "an intense place, but there's a release."\n"I gravitated to this because I'm very much in my body -- dancing and moving are my favorite things to do," Anderson said. "But it's not enough to just move. It has to tell a story."\nAnderson took on nearly every production role to realize her piece. As well as writing, directing and acting in "Waves," she co-produced, stage managed and worked in every area of design.\n"Talk about an ambitious project," said Kaira Hogle, performing arts director for the BAAC. "It's an amazing undertaking for someone from the community to do something like this."\nMike Price, technical director at the John Waldron Arts Center, helped Anderson realize her lighting design.\n"Her show is high developmental. It's organic, the way she's constructed it," he said.\nWilkins echoed Price's observations. She said modern dance is fundamentally organic, using natural forces like gravity and physical mechanics to create expressive movement.\n"Modern dance can be beautiful, sad, ugly, uplifting. That's what excites me about it -- the range of experience," Wilkins said.\nWilkins said she believes the show's movement captures this range. In one of the scenes dancers move together as though they are a wave. They uplift another dancer as it crests, then bring the dancer back down as it recedes. Wilkins said the scene highlights both the emotional effect and expressive movement she hopes the show will capture.\n"Because it's such an original piece, I'm excited to see who 'Waves' will draw," Hogle said. "(Ideally, 'Waves') will introduce the community to a new kind of art form and enrich their lives."\n"Waves" opens at 8 p.m. this Friday, running at the same time Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. The show continues Oct. 21 through 23 at the John Waldron Arts Center, located on the northwest corner of Fourth and Walnut streets. Tickets are $12 for the public and $10 for students and seniors.\n-- Contact staff writer Patrick Doolin at pdoolin@indiana.edu.