DANCE/Hartwell

"At the Jubilee" (photo courtesy of the College at Brockport)

Our friend Colleen, who is getting her MFA in Dance at Suny Brockport, presented her masters thesis dance at the past weekend’s performances in the DANCE/Hartwell program. She had invited me to some of the rehearsals, but I hadn’t had time, so the piece was a complete (and exciting!) surprise. Charlie and I were accompanied by her uncle Tom and his partner Glen, and as I entered Hartwell Hall, two girls with bouquets of flowers reminded me we hadn’t bought Colleen any. Luckily some students were selling single roses, for $3.50, and I bought four, one for each of us to give her (I was such an old lady to the girl taking my $20, who immediately went to her phone to calculate my total – I admonished her to do the math in her head, and she just stared at me blankly, until one of her friends loudly whispered the answer).

Although there were eight pieces on the program, it ran just under an hour. The first piece, “111, Go!” completely captivated me. Allison Bohman’s choreography (“in collaboration with the dancers”) was a perfect counterpoint to her music choice of two movements from Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. The creative, and complementary, costumes, designed by Emma Scholl, were all made from the same fabrics, but none was alike. I also liked the use of light and shadow, and the fact that the lone male dancer wasn’t marginalized, but had a role equal to that of the women.

I had seen “Glassy Ladies” (choreographed by Rachel Keane, Maya Gonzales, and Christina Gorman) before, in a smaller space, and either because it was not new to me, or because it was no longer an intimate performance, it didn’t seem to have the same impact on this stage. And as amusing as the addition of video was to the piece, it seemed to distract, rather than fill the larger space. Some of the works were set to music with lyrics that I felt also distracted from the movement, especially when they required effort to listen to, or were more clever than the choreography. But all of the dancers performed beautifully.

"At the Jubilee" (photo courtesy of the College at Brockport)

Colleen’s piece, “At the Jubilee,” was last but not least (I was reminded of my youth piano recitals, where the best students performed first and last, and the rest of us were sandwiched forgettably in between). This was the first time I had seen her work choreographed for dancers other than herself, and I was impressed by her ability to translate her vocabulary of movements to her troupe. She also incorporated some lighter moments into the work, and gave the audience a chance to laugh, which we did. It was a great ensemble piece, and although Colleen also participated, she did not solo, or even put herself in front. We only got to spend a few minutes afterward with her, because we kept getting interrupted by other people who wanted to congratulate her on a job so well done! I really hope Colleen finds a niche in Rochester post-graduation, so our community can continue to benefit from her talent and enthusiasm. I remarked to Charlie on our drive home that this was probably our last visit to Hartwell Hall, but as he replied, “you never know...”