In the world we live in today, it is so easy to live a numb life where you never take time to think about what we truly feel and why we do what we do. The Knowhere Faculty Dance concert was so thrilling to attend because it made me feel wonder at seeing beauty, it made me feel uncomfortable at times, it made me believe in the power of numbers, and it made me want to trust others better. You know it is a great performance when you leave with a desire find a way in which you too can add beauty to this world.
As UNM is the one university in the United States to offer a full bachelor's degree in the dance Flamenco, it was delightful to see that three out of the six performances were of the flamenco style. The first, "Talegoneando" was the most traditional of the flamenco pieces. It featured live music with a Spanish guitar, a singer, and a person clapping out beats (palmas). The dancers were very precise and the use of space kept the piece lively.
(The pieces described below are not in the order of the program)
Flamenco was originally created by gypsies as a way to artistically express the frustration of an unfair life. Gypsies have constantly been rejected by society because of their nomadic lifestyle and different traditions. Their history includes many violent acts toward their people.
The piece "Omega" was perfectly reminiscent of this history, but with modern music by "thrash metal musician" Lagartija Nick from Spain. This piece featured dancers in individualized long, shredded skirts reminiscent, perhaps, of what the gypsies may have worn. Besides the powerful music (sounding at times if a voice was echoing in the canyons and developing into more of a beat with electric guitar), costumes, and dancing, the lighting is what made this piece phenomenal. In the beginning, the purple and green hues gave the stage a sickening feeling as if they were in a toxic environment, which was true of the gypsies almost wherever they turned. The dance included gestures as if they were choking and the music cried out, "Dios!" as if they were praying for help from a distant God. Eventually, the lights turned to red as if they had enough repression and violence. The dancers repeated many times a 1-2-triplet foot pattern back and forth as if it was building up into a war cry. These dancers became not the Spanish matador, but rather the bull. Finally, the lights turned to purple, the color of power. The dance finished with all but one leaving on stage right. The last made a powerful pose and then the lights dimmed.
The third Flamenco piece, "Fandango", was just as intense of an experience as "Omega" for me because of the number of dancers and the masterful use of space. It began with a line of dancers and their footwork upstage. Eventually the group gathered together in one bunch as they simultaneously spun, leaned back, and would look directly into the audience at the same time as if willing us to look and understand. This group expanded outward and lines would rotate between lines. At times dancers would be accomplishing same footwork with some facing forward and others backward. Jumps and arms spinning like a windmill portrayed such power. As the music stopped, all dancers looked intently toward the audience. Person by person began to continuously click their heels until all had joined in and the stage was rumbling with the power of the group. Then with snapping, the group began to leave to stage left.
Though flamenco was the opening and the grand finale of the show, the modern dance pieces by Vladimir Conde Reche, Donna Jewell, and Fall 2015 Artist in Residence Tomaz Simatovic certainly brought a variety of emotions to ponder over.
"if i could only reach you" was definitely a piece that, in making me uncomfortable at times, allowed me to think more deeply about the experience of being in love. It begins with dancers slowly wandering the very foggy stage. Eventually one dancer drops to the ground and all hell breaks loose as dancers writhe uncontrollable all around the stage. This eventually comes to a halt. As these six original dancers do nothing but stand still and stare at the audience for minutes, they are eventually joined by many other female dancers. Queen's song "Breakthru" begins to play and the new additions to the stage find themselves dancing in a playful, quirky way. One by one, they break the trance of the original six, though the last (the woman who dropped to the stage previously) regains movement by screaming as she falls to her position on the ground once more. This piece was intended to embody the many "awesome" and strange emotions that are love.
Here is a YouTube video with some rehearsal clips from this piece:
Conde Reche's "Search for the silver lining" brought dark, eeriness to the stage as if the dancers were currently passing through a very difficult struggle. Their black leather uniforms with cage like lines around the belly brought a repression to the stage. The choreography was full of jumps, spins, unnatural curling of the back, extensions, and gestures of all height levels. At one point, it appeared as if the dancers were worms on the ground. As silence pervades at the end, the dancers make gestures as if they were cleaning their hands thoroughly. This begs the question that if all of your pain and suffering could be taken away from you, would you choose that options to wash your hands of the experience? Or is the washing more of a healing process in the end?
Finally, Donna Jewell's "Superior Temporal (higher up and off to the side)" contained a fascinating excerpt in the program describing the following excerpt from The Aesthetic Brain by Anjan Chatterjea:
"Visual processing starts in the retina of our eyes... Visual information is sorted in different regions (of the brain)... the shapes of things, their movement or color, are processed in different regions. ... off to the side... and higher up is an area that processes moving bodies or biological motion. So, we have a visual cortex that has specialized modules to process places, faces, bodies and different objects. Is it a coincidence that much of visual art is about landscapes, portraits, nudes, and still lifes? Is it also a coincidence that we have an area specialized for biological motion and that dance is such a popular form of art?"This piece is performed by MFA student Kelsey Paschich and UNM Assistant Professor Vladimir Conde Reche. The dancing of this piece was of the highest quality. The story that seemed to be told was of a girl who is noticed by a boy. He literally lifts her put in various powerful and high lifts. But she always seems to be trying to getting away, and at one point even limps away from him. He tries to hug her, but she escapes again. Eventually, the piece ends with Paschich allowing herself to be supported on him. The lights go out as they make walking finger gestures on each other. To me, this piece is about developing trust and how that is a process. One may need to pass through many personal encounters and even quirky times (like the quirky gestures they made at times). But in the end, the vulnerability that comes with trust is beauty.
I highly recommend this show before it is over forever!
Tickets are various prices depending on if you are UNM faculty or a student, but general adult admission is $15 per person.
Great blog postStray Dogs
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