Twisted Seeds is a title which represents how each of our dances themes are a twist of relationships and dance forms, said choreographer Alex DeLosSantos 06.
The choreographers habit of collaboration led to quick agreement on the shows title.
We thought it was perfect because all of our ideas begin as seeds and grow into something we will be putting on stage, Marit Sletten 06 said.
Seeds is also an acronym for the choreographers areas of study. DeLosSantos is an English and dance major, Sletten is majoring in economics and dance and Melissa Riedesel 06 majors in dance with a concentration in statistics.
Both Sletten and DeLosSantos have choreographed pieces for the performance, while Riedesel is performing two works choreographed for her by professional choreographers with ties to the college.
Sletten choreographed a piece called Just Spin It for 10 dancers. The music will be mixed on stage by Slettens brother, who works as a DJ. The work centers around an urban feel as well as a sense of community, Sletten said. The dancers, clad in informal rehearsal clothing, will eventually discard layers until all present a unified, urban look.
We are incorporating some new effects in lighting, using some of my brothers DJ lighting on stage as well as the usual stage lighting, Sletten said.
She looks forward to the performance, after rigorous preparations during the fall.
Weve been rehearsing twice a week for most of the semester, Sletten said.
Abandon is a piece DeLosSantos choreographed for eight dancers. It is designed around the idea of support systems we find in other people, represented through the dancers interaction and separations.
I began coming up with material by trying to focus my ideas on one feeling I wanted to portray to the audience, DeLosSantos said of the creative process. Once I have a focus, I get in the studio and move. Moving creates all kinds of exciting and new ways of looking at the emotion I am focusing on.
DeLosSantos dancers will be clad minimally in red, allowing the contours of their bodies to evoke experiences of separation and support.
Riedesel will perform two solo works. The first, choreographed by Seattle choreographer and director of Lingo dancetheatre KT Neihoff, was actually part of the showing of Relatively Real on campus earlier this fall.
KT was initially hesitant because the solo was built on her and her reality, and not mine but as it turns out, it transferred nicely to myself and my own reality, Riedesel said.
She will wear her favorite everyday dance outfit while dancing in a rehearsal environment.
Mainly, it's about presenting yourself as you are and realizing what is real, she said.
Riedesels second piece was choreographed by Minneapolis dancer Carrie Lande, one of Riedesels former teachers. Lande created the choreography based on a piece of piano music she came across, Riedsel said.
In the dance, Riedesel will explore the inner individual.
It's about two sides and choosing between those two sides, she said.
Riedesel will also perform a duet, Ashen, with Jenny Nuelk 06, choreographed by Artist-in-Residence Anthony Roberts. The piece is an intimate work, using the unique skill, facility and intuition of a smaller group of dancers, Roberts said.
It is structured around the idea of betrayal and infidelity, using text which serves to both elucidate and muddy the picture, Roberts said.
A new addition to the program this year is a video showing. The video will cover the choreographers process of creation and rehearsals.
It also gives the choreographers a chance to personally interpret their own artists statements.
Each senior artist has interpreted this in her own way and that will likely show in the differences in each of our video segments, DeLosSantos said.
The performers look forward to the debut of Twisted Seeds.
It will be an opportunity for anyone to come and learn about dance or to experience movement as a seasoned viewer, Sletten said.