Bloomington dances across borders

Nothing goes better together than fish and love.

Or at least, that was the first lesson Andrea Conger, a professional dancer and choreographer, taught those gathered Saturday for a dance workshop at First
Presbyterian Church.

This was the third workshop sponsored by the IU Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center during February. Saturday’s workshop focused on dances from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.

“These are dance cultures that are massive,” Conger said.

Conger showed videos of professional dancers from these areas on an projector to illustrate different forms and styles. She told those present that the dances they would learn from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan mainly focused on the upper body and hands. This was unlike the dances from Transylvania and Turkey they learned last week, which focused on the feet.

She said, however, that many of the dances they looked at during the course of three weeks would have much in common. She said dance culture was transferred among people along the Silk Road.

“This is an area that is full of borders and mixing,” Conger said. “Borders that move, people that move.”

The first dance was a traditional Afghani dance that could be performed by either a man or woman, though with subtle differences. It told the story of fishing and falling in love.

“What goes better together than fish and love?” Conger asked. Her students burst into laughter.

Outreach Coordinator Amarantha Byer said this is the first time the department has put on this particular event, though two years ago an international student sponsored something similar with great success.

Byer said about 20 to 25 people attended every class, and she was very pleased with the program’s success. She said it took people out of their comfort zones and therefore may not have been successful, but despite this, the evaluations she asked participants to fill out had been very positive.

“Especially the ones about (Conger),” Byer said. “Everyone just loves her.”

Conger and Byer were introduced by Byer’s adviser after she suggested the idea of having a workshop. Byer said meeting Conger, who has danced with the Ethnic Dance Theatre in Minneapolis as well as the Gabriele Choir in Budapest, was “a miracle.”

Byer said she hopes to hold the event next year as well. She also hopes that Conger, who has a few more years at IU studying anthropology, will be available to
teach it again.

“We’d love to keep this plan alive,” Byer said. “We definitely want to keep it going.”