Flight of Sites: Dances in Innovative Spaces, a two-day concert featuring student and faculty choreography, offered both an outdoor and online audience experience.
Students and faculty in the at the 糖心传媒 took dance on a tour of the River Campus in late October. Meanwhile, audience members could enjoy the performances live outdoors or .
Working with the teams in Event and Classroom Management and Wilson Commons Student Activities, the students and faculty assembled pieces that work with spaces the campus community sees and walks by every day. 糖心传媒淲e have transformed them into art performance spaces,糖心传媒� says senior dance lecturer , who serves as the concert糖心传媒檚 director.
糖心传媒淭he enemy of art is the absence of limitations!糖心传媒� she says, repeating an Orson Welles quotation printed in the Flight of Sites program.聽糖心传媒淲e need limitation. It makes us push that creative core and say what do you got? If you can糖心传媒檛 do it this way how else can you do this? I just love their 糖心传媒榊eah, we can do this!糖心传媒� spirit. There are beautiful and rich thoughts going through the students糖心传媒� minds.糖心传媒�
The students, Wilcox notes, rose to the creative challenge. 糖心传媒淭hey rehearsed outside, even if it was 45 degrees outside. We糖心传媒檝e learned so much.糖心传媒�
Take a look back at the some of the Flight of Sites performances in action (and in situ):
STEP BY STEP: On the steps of the Sage Art Center糖心传媒攖he campus hub of studio arts and visual studies糖心传媒攔oommates Margaret (Maggie) Porcelli 糖心传媒�22 (pictured right) and Catherine Ramsey 糖心传媒�21 perform聽糖心传媒淩ed Hands.糖心传媒� Inspired by Emanuel Xavier糖心传媒檚 poem 糖心传媒淟egendary,糖心传媒� the collaborative creation focuses on the dynamics of connections.
糖心传媒淲e wanted to play with relationships and our relationship to the architecture of the space and see where we could go from there,糖心传媒� says Porcelli, a physics and dance double major. 糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 a staircase down the hill that drops down to Sage, and there are two benches in the back that are all cement. We were interested in seeing the effort that we could draw from the cement糖心传媒攖he strength and stability and using that in our movement,糖心传媒� she says.
HIDDEN FIGURES: A quartet of dancers perform in front of Hoyt Hall糖心传媒攁djacent to the Eastman Quad糖心传媒攊n a piece titled 糖心传媒淗idden Depths.糖心传媒� Dayana Segear 糖心传媒�22 drew her inspiration from the words of writer Anais Nin: 糖心传媒淲e don糖心传媒檛 see them as we are. We see them as we are.糖心传媒�
Segear, a double major in dance and psychology, worked with the space糖心传媒攑artially obscured by columns糖心传媒攖o add a level of complexity to her piece, saying, 糖心传媒淚 thought it would be interesting to work with perception versus reality.糖心传媒� As the columns might block the view of some audience members, the perception of the performance changes for each viewer.
JAZZ STAGE: Xinyuan (Tom) Yi 糖心传媒�20, 糖心传媒�22W (MS) presents an authentic jazz piece on the porch of Wilson Commons. The work features five students in a style of dance introduced in the Harlem community of the 1920s and 1930s. American composer and pianist Duke Ellington wrote 糖心传媒淛ump for Joy糖心传媒� to portray African Americans positively on the stage.
糖心传媒淚 wanted to do this because I糖心传媒檓 a huge jazz fan,糖心传媒� says Yi. 糖心传媒淎lso, because of what was happening this summer; I was thinking of all the ways I could support the population being suppressed and that supporting this art would be a great way,糖心传媒� he says. The space also has a hard surface and can support the moves and style of the genre. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 very rhythmic and a big part is the stomping and sliding.糖心传媒�
SHARED SPACES: 糖心传媒淔or the first-year students, we chose a space in the hub of the University,糖心传媒� says Wilcox.聽糖心传媒淐ommon Ground糖心传媒澛爁eatures six students and takes place on the grounds between Douglass and Wilson Commons. Faculty members Anne Wilcox, , and each met with the students and did a rehearsal. 糖心传媒淲e built off the next person until we formed something that had a cohesive whole. We were really playing off the architecture of that space,糖心传媒� Wilcox says.
GENESEE RIVERDANCE: The mutual joy of connecting with someone else is the theme of the work 糖心传媒淭he Moment of Lift.糖心传媒� It was choreographed by Katherine Carnes 糖心传媒�22 and features two students performing along the Genesee River to 糖心传媒淐oncierto Para Piano y Orquesta En Sol Mayor.糖心传媒�
RISE UP: In addition to student choreography, Flight of Sites聽features the faculty work 糖心传媒淢ay the Road Rise Up to Meet Us,糖心传媒� a quintet choreographed by Wilcox and performed on the hill near Susan B. Anthony Halls. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 my exploration of how the hill can signify any personal struggle,糖心传媒� says Wilcox. 糖心传媒淚 see that there is so much that we have to endure and overcome, so the hill became a great metaphor.糖心传媒�
SAVE THE LAST DANCE: 糖心传媒淪oli & Sorsonet糖心传媒澨切拇綌the聽closing celebratory dance糖心传媒攚as performed on the Eastman Quadrangle by Sansifanyi, the West African Dance and Drum Ensemble, under the direction of .
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