The ASFA Dance department's Fall Repertory performance will be presented this weekend through Sunday in the Dorothy Jemison Day Theatre.
In Act One, Dance department chair Wes Chapman is presenting sequences from the classic ballet "The Nutcracker." Dancers will perform the Waltz of the Flowers, Pirouette Doll, Soldier Doll, Spanish, Marzipan, and the Snow Scene. Explaining his version of "The Nutcracker," Chapman said, "It is Clara's dream. In her dream she grows into a young adult and the Nutcracker prince becomes her partner. The excerpts are from a version of 'The Nutcracker' that I have been working on for the last 15 years."
Following these sequences will be “A Purple Haze” by Dance faculty member Margi Cole, performed by the 7th-9th graders.
“I didn’t really know what my piece was about, and sometimes when you make a piece the piece tells you what it is about as you do it," Cole said. "So, it really started with me and the 7-9 graders creating movement vocabulary, and we limited ourselves to body parts that we could not use by random draw. We started creating movement vocabulary using that as a point of departure. So, for example, somebody wouldn't be able to use their right arm, left leg, or head; those were some of the body parts, and we created the movement from that sort of limitation. I started with that limitation because I hurt my shoulder and I was feeling like I was operating with limitations and navigating movement and so, I wanted to explore that further.”
“It ended up being 'A Purple Haze,' because it has a lot of movement. My piece travels to a lot of different places all the time and it doesn't necessarily get 'fixed,' and so in that way, that gives it the haze.”
The next piece will be performed by ASFA10th graders called “Second Time Around” choreographed by Germual Barnes in collaboration with the ASFA dancers. Tenth grade dancers described this pieces as being "about the joy of dancing."
A guest choreographer was brought in September to put together a piece for the 11th-12th graders named “Sky.” This new ballet is an amazing piece brought together by Attila Csiki, a dancer/teacher that has worked with many ballet and contemporary companies around the world. This piece is an abstract work that was inspired by his interpretation of the sky, and the dancers of this piece said “the process of this piece was amazing and enlightening to us.”
Closing the show will be “Kalunga Crossing,” choreographed by Dr. Yanique Hume from Barbados, staged by Germual Barnes, with dance captain Hannah French. This piece features all grade levels from the dance department and is a African-Caribbean inspired dance.
“In this piece, the dancers move through time and space and use their embodied expressions to remember the lives lost at sea then and now, while also celebrating the wonders of all that remain part of the cultural memory of those that inhabit the Americas now," describes the Fall Repertory program.
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