A reason to dance

Every nail needs a hammer.

The eighth annual Hammer and Nail Concert kicked off Tuesday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

The event showcased the combined talents of 15 contemporary dance majors in the Contemporary Dance Department of the School of Public Health and 15 graduate students from the IU Student Composers Association. Each contemporary dance major in the Choreographic Performance Project class paired with an IU Student Composers Association member to create a dance piece through a process faculty member and concert production coordinator Selene Carter called “speed dating.”  

Carter, who teaches the Choreographic Performance Project class, said the student pairs collaborated for an entire semester.

Program A began at 6:30 p.m. and featured seven pieces, and Program B followed at 8:30 p.m.

The pieces were performed by undergraduate dancers from the Contemporary Dance Department and both undergraduate and graduate Jacobs School of Music musicians. Different styles of music, costumes and dancers revealed the pieces’ variety of themes.

These themes ranged from romance in “Love Under Two Skies” to terror in “(Don’t) Send In the Clowns,” which Carter described as the contemporary dance version of Stephen King’s “It.”

“My piece is about growing up,” junior choreographer Shannon Kazan said. “So I used a mix of younger and older dancers.”

The range of themes in the dance pieces is what defines contemporary dance, Carter said.

“Contemporary dance is constantly reinventing itself, that’s what makes it so contemporary,” Carter said. “Dancers use body space and time to create a whole new language all their own with which to express themselves.”

The Hammer and Nail Concert’s main purpose was to collect food for Hoosier Hills Food Bank and to raise funds for the “Dance for Parkinson’s Disease” event.
Beyond giving back to the community, the concert served as a way for the contemporary dance majors and Student Composers Association members to collaborate as artists.

“It’s been an awesome experience,” junior choreographer Tyrece Franklin said. “This may be the only time we are able to work with such talented composers and musicians.” 

“We feel so fortunate to have the world-class musicians and composers that the Jacobs School produces,” Carter said in agreement.

Carter said the show’s title reflects the importance of working together.

“You can’t really build anything without a both a hammer and a nail,” she said. “You can’t have dance without music.”

Programs A and B of the Hammer and Nail Concert will be performed again at the same times at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater again tonight.