Dancer perform in end-of-term show in Latimer-Shaeffer
Posted on December 6, 2007
Many people will be hiding out in the library cramming for finals this weekend. But for eight dance majors, their final is on stage.
The eight girls make up the Virginia Repertory Dance Company and will shuffle, leap, bend and shimmy their way across the Latimer-Schaffer stage Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. for their end-of-the-semester show.
The company was formed in 1983 to showcase upper-level dancers who are versatile, dedicated, responsible and able to keep their grades up while working grueling hours, according to dance professor Kate Trammell. The company focuses on modern dance, which Trammel refers to as a “term of convenience.”
Called both modern and contemporary, this unique form of dance is different from the comfortable styles of ballet and jazz.
“There’s a different relationship between the dance and the music,” junior Ilana Burger said. “With jazz and hip-hop it’s about dancing to the count or the lyrics. With modern, it’s about finding music that conveys the same feelings and intentions as the dance.”
The performance this weekend is composed of six pieces, two by JMU dance faculty and four by guest artists from Washington, D.C.
“It is quite the interesting blend of darker subject matter, bright colors, Caribbean music, and hilarious puns,” senior Kate Yow said. “One piece, a duet by local D.C. artist Miesha Bosma, is performed to a poem by Sylvia Plath, entitled ‘In Plaster.’”
“In Plaster” is senior Jillian Boelte’s favorite piece. Boelte has studied dance since she was six and recently attended a summer program with American Dance Festival at Duke University, where she had the opportunity to learn from famous choreographers. She was exposed to modern dance in high school and is used to getting mixed responses about the new form. She recommends not interpreting the dancing literally, but to instead enjoy each separate piece.
Yow will be “In Plaster” with Boelte and also credits it as her favorite. She has been dancing since she was two-years-old and fell in love with modern dance as a teenager.
“Our only hope is that the concert moves the audience in some way, whether they laugh or cry or leave the theatre furious, we don’t care as long as they feel something,” Yow said.
Trammell says the differences in each piece is astounding and shares Yow’s belief that the pieces have the ability to move a person.
“Dance, for me, is life energy,” Trammell said. “You can experience a lot of sensations that are central to experiencing being alive.”
The dancers have been rehearsing four days a week since the beginning of the semester and look forward to showing the JMU community what they have learned.
“We have been eating, sleeping, and dreaming Va. Rep,” Yow said. “We have all worked very hard for this concert and we hope people enjoy it.”
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