The five seniors each did either a solo, choreographed a piece or both, and each was performed in an intimate setting for an audience of family and friends. The chairs were set directly onto the studio floor, so that there was little distance between the performers and the onlookers.
Madeline Logan, graduating early as a junior, choreographed a piece about how mental illness is treated in our society.
“My piece focuses on our tendency to disassociate ourselves from disorders,” Logan said. “We look at mental illness and we say ‘This is such a problem ... for them.’ It’s about taking something and owning it, making it personal, even though that’s uncomfortable.”
Logan’s dancers began by facing away from the audience, twisting and untwisting their hair with robotic, frantic movements. Later in the piece, dancers manipulated each other’s movements like puppets and whipped their tangled hair to a soundtrack of classical music mixed with clips of screaming and of female voices discussing mental illness.
Lorena Sanchez, another senior, took the floor in a tie-dye magenta and turquoise romper. She used the entire space of the studio to interpret the acoustic version of Jason Mraz’s “You and I Both” through dance.
“I didn’t set any choreography to my solo,” Sanchez said. “Whenever I play that song, I have a different story I want to tell, a different dance, and it’s interesting because it’s different every time.”
Senior Jessilyn Gibas performed a solo that was also improvisational. She said her ballet background mixes with her contemporary training, resulting in lines and structure combined with loose movements.
“I was thinking of memories, starting from my freshman year and how I’ve developed into where I am today,” Gibas said. “It’s not a sad piece, it’s like I’m thinking of where I was and here I am and the process of how I got here. I’m at peace where I am right now.”
The show was the culmination of the course “Senior Summaries,” and the students were in charge of every aspect of production.
Sanchez, Logan and Gibas said with the help of their professor, Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown, they choreographed the pieces, advertised, made press releases and programs, and coordinated with lighting and stage designers to set up rehearsals and tech meetings.
“The biggest thing that we’ve learned is professionalism,” Logan said. “When something didn’t work, the penalty for it was the real life crisis that we now had to solve. I think what they say about experience being a great teacher is pretty true in this situation.”
The class has prepared them to launch their professional careers, Gibas said. Logan said she hopes to teach dance at her hometown studio after graduation.
Gibas is studying physical therapy but said she plans on traveling to New York to take more dance classes and see if she can make it in professional auditions.
Sanchez will return to work for Royal Caribbean, as she has already spent a gap semester performing on one of their cruise lines.
That the senior’s family would be in the audience gave more meaning to the performance, Sanchez said. She said it made it feel like they were actually giving something through their dances.
“My family is the biggest support system that I have,” Gibas said. “My mom knows that I wasn’t going to be happy without doing dance. I thought I was just going to do physical therapy and exercise science, but she thought I should really audition for the program and I’m so happy she did, because I wouldn’t want it any other way. Having them here is perfect, because they get to see what they’ve been helping by supporting me.”
