2008 Woodie Awards
Master Choregraphers: inspires the college community
Tracy Miller
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Life!
With four sold out shows the Master Choreographers dance concert awed the audience with each of the seven pieces. Ranging from classical ballet to sassy tap to afro-contemporary modern dance, Muhlenberg dancers expressed infinite talent and grace.
Several dancers not only exerted their bodies in one piece on stage but also performed in multiple and even back-to-back numbers such as Laura Mayerson, '10 who switched roles from contemporary ballerina in Zane Booker's ballet, Presence Unknown, to an organically moving modern dancer in visting lecturer, Corrie Cowart's Affinities.
While each dancer in this piece was individually talented, it was the precision and versatility of the dancers that made it such a treat. Each of the fifteen women exemplified mastery of Cowart's choreography, enabling their individuality to get lost for the sake of the greater image of infinite bodies gliding across the stage.
Another back-to-back performer, Scott Schneider, '11 was intensely breathtaking in Assistant Professor of Dance, Charles O. Anderson's Evidence of Things (un)said, which he performed directly after putting forth the utmost poise and charm as the male lead in the recreation of Anthony Tudor's Continuo.
It has been an exciting year for Anderson; he was the Recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, named "One of 25 to Watch" in 2008 by Dance Magazine, and finally had enough Muhlenberg men to choreograph an all male piece titled, Evidence of Things (un)said, which opened with a voice over reciting a text written by Essex Hemphill with contributions from the cast.
The words became distorted and muffled as the piece intensified, allowing the audience to wonder what is meant to be heard or unheard, said or unsaid. The opening lines of the text set the tone for this troubled piece by stating, "If you are hearing this, then I have failed."
However, the sound, stage, and dancers became nothing but a blur as Schneider came forward into the light; the audience was drawn to the luxuriously long limbs of his extending body. The men were moving in what seemed to be entranced motions as they flung their limbs about the stage with rhythmically pulsing bodies.
Several dancers not only exerted their bodies in one piece on stage but also performed in multiple and even back-to-back numbers such as Laura Mayerson, '10 who switched roles from contemporary ballerina in Zane Booker's ballet, Presence Unknown, to an organically moving modern dancer in visting lecturer, Corrie Cowart's Affinities.
While each dancer in this piece was individually talented, it was the precision and versatility of the dancers that made it such a treat. Each of the fifteen women exemplified mastery of Cowart's choreography, enabling their individuality to get lost for the sake of the greater image of infinite bodies gliding across the stage.
Another back-to-back performer, Scott Schneider, '11 was intensely breathtaking in Assistant Professor of Dance, Charles O. Anderson's Evidence of Things (un)said, which he performed directly after putting forth the utmost poise and charm as the male lead in the recreation of Anthony Tudor's Continuo.
It has been an exciting year for Anderson; he was the Recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts, named "One of 25 to Watch" in 2008 by Dance Magazine, and finally had enough Muhlenberg men to choreograph an all male piece titled, Evidence of Things (un)said, which opened with a voice over reciting a text written by Essex Hemphill with contributions from the cast.
The words became distorted and muffled as the piece intensified, allowing the audience to wonder what is meant to be heard or unheard, said or unsaid. The opening lines of the text set the tone for this troubled piece by stating, "If you are hearing this, then I have failed."
However, the sound, stage, and dancers became nothing but a blur as Schneider came forward into the light; the audience was drawn to the luxuriously long limbs of his extending body. The men were moving in what seemed to be entranced motions as they flung their limbs about the stage with rhythmically pulsing bodies.