SCA Student Choreographers: In the meantime...
February 13 & 14, 2021 | FREE | Vimeo
We are proud to present a two-part show from SCA student choreographers. Amidst a pandemic, they have persevered in creating 16 dance films that are poignant and unique to each of their experiences as artists. This diverse show includes choreographers from all four years. We are gradually moving back to dancing in the studio, and eagerly await a day we can dance in close proximity and perform live for an audience. This day will come, but in the meantime, we will choose to embrace our situation and express our artistic identity through all circumstances.
Part I (February 13) explores themes of identity and the relationships we have to our bodies. Do you like the skin you’re in, and does that change when others are near? What happens when you are alone, with nothing but your innermost thoughts, fears and insecurities? Part I is an intimate reflection on one’s own self-perception and emotions, and how over and over we confront our reality anew.
Part II (February 14) invites its audience on a journey through otherworldly environments brought to life. Both haunting and enchanting, these pieces challenge you to dream beyond your comfort zone. Choreographers were inspired by the spaces around them, and how the architecture and environment can influence their compositions. How do you fit in the spaces you’re in? Are you comfortable? Part II is a metaphorical exploration of our experiences from an eerie and ethereal perspective.
PART 1 | February 13
Framework
Choreographers: Desiree James and Sydney Bluck
Dancers: Desiree James and Sydney Bluck
Estimated length: 3'45"
Choreographer’s notes: This piece is heavily influenced by the mechanics of creating a movement, along with how two bodies can move together to create a singular shape. It plays with the influences that sound and repetition have on a movement and how that is translated to the audience.
cicatrize
Choreographer: Jessica McKeown
Dancer: Jessica McKeown
Estimated length: 5'13"
Choreographer's notes:
let it go
let it leave
let it happen
nothing
in this world
was promised or
belonged to you
anyway
all you own is yourself
– rupi kaur
SCRUB
Choreographers: Nicole Dreher, Sarah Kennedy, and Roya Pishvaei
Dancers: Nicole Dreher, Sarah Kennedy, and Roya Pishvaei
Estimated length: 5'
Choreographers notes:
Scrub it all away.
The memories,
The shame.
The foul lingering pain.
The sadness in my brain.
Wash the day away.
Start fresh,
Don't click replay.
The dirt goes down the drain. I hope my scars will fade.
– Roya Pishvaei
Monday morning
Choreographer: Ursula Blanchard
Dancers: Alexandra Pickrell, Roya Pishvaei, Emma Miebach, Jacqueline Ritter, Mikela Vuorensivu, and Andrea Isea
Choreographers notes: That feeling on Monday morning. You're hopeful and you're tired and the week has so much potential and nothing has gone wrong yet.
Estimated length: 10'
Conformation
Choreographer: Carly DuBreuil
Dancers: Jade Chong, Paige McConnell, Mackenzie Seaborn, and Kenzie Skoglund
Estimated Length: 6'
Choreographer’s notes: Confirmation; any of the spatial arrangements which the atoms in a molecule may adopt and freely convert between, especially by rotation about individual single bonds.
Never Touched
Choreographer: Alexandra Pickrell
Dancers: Alexandra Pickrell
Estimated length: 3' – 4'
Choreographer’s notes:
Silken ribbons pouring from my veins to give, Unaffected by ravenous horrors.
To have never been touched in such ways, Would I feel at home in my skin?
– Alex Pickrell
“Two is Company...”
Choreographer: Paige Wichers
Dancers: Taylor Wichers, Kya Friesen, and Alyssa Hughes
Estimated length: 4'5"
Choreographers notes:
Two is company,
Three is a crowd.
One is a Wanderer.
– James Thurber
Coming to Terms with the Situation
Choreographer: Jay Gignac
Dancer: Jay Gignac
Estimated length: 11'
Choreographer notes:
“Transitions of any kind are not simple”
– Megan Walker-Straight
PART 2 | February 14
rapid.eye.movement
Choreographer: Camryn Frisk
Dancer: Camryn Frisk
Estimated length: 5'
Choreographers Notes: When things go bump in the night, is it our imaginations running wild, or is it the dancing of the shadows from the darkest parts of our minds. Caught in between the land of the awake and the world of the sleeping, what kind of monsters creep into our rooms when we are most vulnerable?
Left Alone
Choreographers: Teighan Hauff and Tara Macgregor
Dancers: Teighan Hauff and Tara Macgregor
Estimated length: 4' – 6'
Choreographer's notes:
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
― Søren Kierkegaard
If I concentrate, the self-loathing almost feels like love
Choreographer: Natalia Martineau
Dancers: Natalia Martineau
Estimated length: 5'
Choreographer’s notes: These habits I’ve created, which I disguise as self-love, are nothing more than futile attempts to shape myself into something tolerable.
The Sun, The Star, and The Moon
Choreographers: Mikela Vuorensivu, Roya Pishvaei, and Andrea Isea Galindo
Dancers: Mikela Vuorensivu, Roya Pishvaei, and Andrea Isea Galindo
Estimated length: 7'
Choreographer's notes: The Sun, The Star, and The Moon is an interdisciplinary collaboration between three dancers and a composer. The film features a trio of dancers embodying the celestial bodies of the Sun, Moon, and Star. Each is an entity unto their own but complement each other uniquely in duets and as a group. They are woven together, like a braid; stronger together, and helping hold each other together. As they orbit and weave together, they explore the similarities and differences that strengthen their bond.
The Internal Game
Choreographer: Brooklyn Fowler
Dancer: Brooklyn Fowler
Estimated Length: 3' – 4'
Choreographer’s notes: Sometimes the simplistic attempts to be perfect feels like a game of rock, paper, scissors, against oneself: ridiculous and relentless. No matter how much one tries, the result will always be the same: loss. Until one accepts themself and their imperfections, they will always lose the game.
How’s it goin’? Wah gwaan?
Choreographers: Greer Harper and Kaitlyn La Vigne
Dancers: Greer Harper and Kaitlyn La Vigne
Estimated length: 5'30"
Choreographer's notes: Choreographed and danced by Greer Harper and Kaitlyn La Vigne, How’s it goin’? Wah gwaan? uses a compilation of various videos to create a coherent visual representing the creation of relationships from afar. Despite living in different countries and never having met, the piece strives to express a budding choreographic and personal friendship with the use of technology in a time when physically meeting is implausible. Access to technology opened possibilities for collaboration to challenge the audience’s perception in ways that wouldn’t be possible in a live person’s performance. Inspiration came from the concept of perception, especially how different environments can direct a person to notice one thing and ignore others. In addition to manipulating movements, the original score created by composer Leslie Wilburn has also been altered to create various moods within the piece. Inspiration was also drawn from different modes of communication, such as different languages and introductory actions.
S T E P
Choreographer: Sarah U
Dancers: Sarah U
Estimated length: 4'
Choreographer's notes:
One
Step
At
A
Time.
Relicta
Choreographers: Nicole Dreher, Larissa Horobec, and Sarah Kennedy
Dancers: Nicole Dreher, Larissa Horobec, and Sarah Kennedy
Estimated Length: 7'
Choreographers notes: Set in various chilling locations, three dancers explore the world of horror and satire. What happens when one is presented with unusual events? How uncomfortable can one get? Abandonment becomes the common ground that brings these dancers together when working alone. NOTE: Flash warning to viewers, some parts of this film show strobe lighting that could affect certain individuals.