The theme of this year’s show is “Encounters and Collisions.” The concert opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday and shows continue throughout the weekend. The concert will take place in Ruth N. Halls Theatre at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. Tickets are $25 for regular admission, $15 for students and $10 for senior citizens.
“Seven different choreographers, three rehearsal directors, 60 dancers, several lighting, costume and set designers and multiple stage managers. You get the idea,” Elizabeth Shea, the ?production director, said.
The concert consists of nine choreographed pieces by guest choreographers and IU Faculty Selene Carter, Nyama McCarthy-Brown, Iris Rosa and Shea. Diversity and quality have always been the focal points of creating the show.
This is also a year of big names. Ihsan Rustem, born in London and now based in Switzerland, is featured as one of three guest choreographers.
“We want to create diverse programs every year,” Shea said. “This year is more classic-based. This year we had an opportunity to work with Hubbard Street, a company that has its root in classicism and has the essence of ballet, which is very different. It’s the European contemporary ballet approach, which is very hot right now.”
The first work, “Long Story Short,” is one of the highlights of the show. Created by Ihsan Rustem, the piece is set to dramatic music that uses text from Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl,” with dramatic lighting and striking, high fashion–inspired costumes. The choreographer was inspired by his experience of intense changes in life.
“This experience came in three stages: insecurity and immense doubt, the urge to break free, then absolute calm,” Rustem said in an earlier interview with ?4dancers.org.
The fifth piece, “Protean Hearts” by Elizabeth Shea is her most recent work and will have its premiere this Friday. A mix of American modern dance and European contemporary ballet, the work puts people in a more social context and illustrates a strong exploration into our ?relationships with each other.
“The piece is about the fickle nature of mankind...the best and the worst of us,” Shea said. “A lot of thinking is from world events going on nowadays. Terrors, but also the outpouring of love and support for each other. I felt the vulnerability of life but also the moments of amazing goodness. It’s the hope that keeps us all going. And we want people to think about it.”
The creation of the piece is very much a collaborative effort.
Alejandro Fonseca, a senior dance major, and Ryan Galloway said modern dance is the best way to express ?individuality through dance.
“It’s great that Liz brought up the idea and she helps us, the dancers, to express it the way we want,” Jordyn Kahler, a senior dance major, said.
Dancers dress in light cotton dresses dyed in soft pink, pale violet and burgundy. They move softly and continuously, shifting and swirling, their dresses highlighting their skin.
“Because of the content matter of this piece, I was looking for maturity in the dancer,” Shea said. “They must have embodied intelligence of their bodies and how they can relate to each other. The ability to work together is really ?critical in this piece.”
Bridget Williams, a lighting designer, designed bright lighting going diagonally ?upward.
“The involvement of designers is an important aspect because I feel more comfortable and clear after discussing Liz’s vision from the beginning and watching the piece over again, which doesn’t happen very often,” Williams said. “So this show is very carefully planned because of the collaborative process.”
After watching a rehearsal, set designer Andrea Ball translated the contained energy and power into a seemingly static wooden sculpture wrapped loosely with fabrics in the far corner of the stage.
“The idea is a representation of heart. But it’s not in the shape of a heart,” Shea said. “The skeleton of the pieces is designed from the dancers’ bodies. The fabric’s wrap kind of represents the fickleness. It changes with the lighting change and it embodies the shifting relationships in ?dancers.”
With so many talented artists involved, Shea said there were a lot of communication challenges. “But in the end, it is wonderful to have so much creative talent on the stage for ‘Encounters and Collisions,’” Shea said.
Shea and her dancers said that contemporary dance is accessible to everyone and is open for interpretation. All of the anger, happiness, joy and love are actually happening after the curtain goes up.
“We, as dancers, are in constant eye contact and using our bodies to make connections,” Leah Fournier, a senior dance major, said. “That’s the way we present and communicate humanness so the audience can see and feel it.”
