Summation Dance’s Dancing Literate at St. Marks Church was created to answer one of the biggest struggles of modern dance choreographers: how to bridge the gap between society and modern dance while introducing both new and present dance audiences to new information. Laura Diefenderfer opened the night appropriately as such by exposing us to the tools commonly used by choreographers to make a dance, enabling audiences less familiar with the craft to better understand the mechanism behind it. The first piece, Splinters in Your Mind, by Summation Dance co-artistic director Taryn Vander Hoop, was a strong “slap in the face” type opener. It involved six incredibly talented female dancers, all dressed in tight black unitards, storming onto the stage like superwomen. Set to helicopter-like sounds, the piece opened with a solo and four dancers in line on the side. The end of the solo initiated a group dance, which was characterized by symmetry, rounded arms, constant level change, extensive floorwork- almost martial arts inspired dance. With constant changes in the group dynamics, the audience members were left completely on our toes. Though I wasn’t able to actually pinpoint a specific meaning for this work due to the overwhelming use of […]
↧