Essay On Out Of Control

Kalen M. Simpson
Mrs. Erin Leigh
THTR 137-02
October 31, 2014
Out of Control What do you call a collaboration of red ribbons, hoop skirts, strait jackets, and bouncy balls? Out of Control. The College of Charleston Department of Theatre and Dance showcased a dance concert named “Out of Control,” which featured dance students from the college. The concert was held Thursday, October 23 through Sunday, October 26 in the Emmett Robinson Theatre in the College of Charleston’s Simons Center for the Arts. Performance times were 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday and a Sunday matinee was held at 3:00 p.m. Directed by College of Charleston dance instructor Gretchen McLaine, the concert also included choreography from assorted professors in the department. Choreographer, Julianna Hane, designed the first dance performed Tethered. This dance style in particular reminded me of rhythmic gymnastics. The four dancers continuously intertwined themselves with the red ribbon, each other’s ribbons, and each other. There was a kind of acrobatic-ballerina feel to it, even though the dance was accompanied by what sounded like a xylophone. The choreography and acrobatics in this piece were driven by the costumes design, which extends far beyond the dancers’ bodies. Personally, my favorite asset of this piece was the dancers’ costumes. Although the costumes were simply black and white, the fact the white looked like ribbon aided to the dance as another element. In addition, there was a lot of balance versus weight distribution movements in the dance that caught my attention due to us practicing these movements in our personal class. The next piece of dance, Rendering, was choreographed by Erin Leigh. This particular piece of dance was inspired by the question to whether video technology can shift how choreographers make dances and will the results extend or impede the audience’s perspective. My attention was piqued when the curtain opened for this dance. Onstage there were three girls in red costumes standing in a straight line facing upstage. As the music began, a video started to play on the on the back screen of three girls dressed in the same costumes doing the same movements. At some points the dance moves coincided perfectly with the video, but at others the timing and movements were mismatched. There were many elements in this dance including the dancers, the illusion of more dancers, and fog. The choreographer stated she simply wanted to represent layers through having one layer of 2D movements on the screen, the next layer being fog, and the last layer of piercing movements created by the dancers. This piece was extremely captivating due to it being a more multi-faceted performance. Coming immediately after Rendering, guest artist Ashlee Ratigan for the Charleston County School of the Arts choreographed Connection? This piece was by far my favorite due to the simplicity of the music, costumes, and dance movements. The restriction for this piece was space: both of personal boundary and the idea that there are many layers which put distance between people who create new and potential connections. We as an audience were expected to express discontent due to the fact this was representing the plague of the modern era. Yet, if we were willing to accept a new paradigm we can see that the new coronations and new connections can be just as beautiful, and just meaningful. Due to the music being sounds of water, I connected the music and costumes representing swans. The fluid movements went perfect with the costumes. I also loved the fact that when the dancers routine came to a complete stop their costumes continue to “flow as water” due to the hoop skirts. Lastly, after taking ballet last semester I really enjoyed watching this piece and noticing the dancers’ rotations while completing grand plies. Before the intermission, choreographer, Gretchen McLaine with the help of her dancers, designed a unique dance routine by the name

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