VCU Dance will present CALM, the Fall 2009 Senior Project Dance Concert on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, November 19, 20, and 21 at 8:00 pm at the Grace Street Theater, 934 West Grace Street. Tickets are $10 for the general public, $5 for students with a valid VCU I.D. and can be reserved beginning November 9 by calling the Grace Street Theater box office at (804)-828-2020.
Four senior dance majors explore the many meanings of "calm" in four diverse works. In each piece the choreographers find through spatial, tactile, internal, musical, social, or forced relationships the meaning of calm within their work. Some create an environment that displays their definition of calm: by either using a stressful and restricted space in which the characters must find a sense of calm; or by illustrating the calming interaction that occurs between the Tuscan landscape and classic Italian architecture. While others find calm in the familiar: whether that be familiarity of touch and sensation; or of memory and nostalgia, and the reminiscence of an idealistic era. Through this process of kinesthetic exploration these four women have constantly been growing and evolving through their works. By finding acceptance of their quickly changing lives and relishing in the comfort of the unknown, the presentation of these works serves as a stepping stone into these artists long careers to come.
Through the serendipitous encounter, Between Floors, Corrine Bates investigates one of humanity's immense fears: getting stuck in an elevator. Through her percussive and gestural movement, five strangers are forced to endure emotions they never dreamed of experiencing. Lasting relationships are molded; sometimes the most unexpected situations yield the most remarkable outcomes.
Alyssa Crump's Technicolor Romance blends movement from Modern Dance, Ballet, and Jazz to bring the era of 1950's Hollywood to the stage. This colorful escapade takes her 12 dancers back in time with the energetic rises and falls of big band swing. Taking inspiration from legends such as Gene Kelly, Anne Miller, and Frank Sinatra, Crump explores through loose and lively movement the unquestionable connection between music and movement, and the relationships that people experience while dancing.
In scutura degli spazi, Lauren Stafford investigates different ways of utilizing space through the inspiration of classic Italian architecture. Stafford's eleven dancers construct and reconstruct kinetic shapes that form throughout the space, while light creates shadows and pathways highlighting and accenting the three dimensional space.
In A Day Apart, Melodie Fais pulls from the primitive and intellectual sides of the psyche to reveal the inner workings of the familiar sensation of being touched. Through circular spatial relationships and dynamics nine individual souls hold, brush, caress, tap, and manipulate each other through space eliciting a broad spectrum of emotions.
CALM is the fourth event of the VCU Dance 2009-2010 Season, a thrilling year of concerts, film screenings, master classes and more. The VCU Dance 2009-2010 Season is made possible in part by funding graciously provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; the Virginia Commission for the Arts; the New England Foundation for the Arts, and VCUarts.