Guest Artist Spotlight: Melanie George

Last week the Dance Division welcomed back Guest Artist and former KSU Faculty member Melanie George for a Sept. 21-25 Choreography Residency. Now running the Dance Minor program at American University in Washington, D.C., Melanie taught a Modern and Jazz class and worked every night (and all day Saturday) creating a new jazz work on members of the Kent Dance Ensemble.

With Student Artistic Director/Rehearsal Director Katie Naso taking notes, the cast includes Amanda Black, Jessica Kraft, Sharon Kriz, LaRonica Southerland and Sabatino A. Verlezza. Images of smoke, Audrey Hepburn and Leslie Caron, Edie Sedgwick, the Velvet Underground and beat chicks all contributed to the development of the work, which will be performed April 1-3 as part of the Kent Dance Ensemble concert.

Melanie was thrilled with (and a little jealous of ) the spaciousness of the new Roe Green Center dance studios, the proximity of the dance offices and our location with Theatre and Music just down the hall! A Friday night dinner with Dance faculty members gave a chance for us to catch up with one another and compare ideas about where our dance departments are heading. There was lots of laughter and wishes to get together more often.

In return for Melanie’s work on our students, Associate Professor Kimberly Karpanty will be creating a work on Melanie’s students this coming spring for their dance concert.

I guess we should now consider the Dance Department at American University a “sister (and brother) school!” Certainly we send out our thanks to them and again to Melanie George for all it took to get away and work with the Kent State dancers.

Note to Melanie: See you in April!

--Andrea Shearer (Assoc. Prof./Dance Division Director)

AOT Students: Cloud Nine Study Guide

Dr. Yuko Kurahashi asked that I post the study guide for Cloud Nine on the blog for AOT student access. You can download the study guide through this link:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/361541/Study%20GuideCloud%209%20final%20draft.docx

--Bill Sallak (Asst. Prof./Dance Music Director/Moderator)

Director’s Statement about the Kent State production of Cloud Nine: How far Have We Come?

This summer, I enjoyed the film The Kids Are Alright, written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko. The main plot concerns two teenagers finding their biological father, who was a sperm donor. The kids have been raised by their mothers, a lesbian couple. I caught a bargain matinee and sat among the retirees and the thrifty folks who enjoy bargain matinees. In looking around me while the previews played, I contemplated just how a middle aged, fairly conservative movie audience would receive the film.

Here is what I discovered: The central relationship, that a lesbian couple raising two children, is just not shocking in 2010. During the sex scene between Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, not one of the senior citizens got up and left or even voiced shock. It has become rather commonplace to see same sex couples engaged in sexual acts in mainstream film, from Showgirls to Brokeback Mountain. Yet, I was intrigued by the comic relief aspect of a sex scene between two major stars and how graphic sex, specifically cunnilingus, was used for humorous effect. The message I took away from this was simple: Laughter = Acceptance.

That reminded me of Carol Burnett’s quote: comedy is tragedy plus time.

Experiencing this film caused me to reflect on Cloud Nine and specifically the relationships between Betty and Ellen in Act I and Lin and Victoria in Act II. If the play uses these two same-sex relationships to illustrate how far we had come in 1979, then shouldn’t we be a lot further along by 2010? Or is just making progress the goal?

Regarding sexual repression: how important is it to one’s psyche to be sexually liberated? How important is our gender, to our identity? How much control does society have over sexual expression/repression?

There are many themes in Cloud Nine. While I do not see it as being primarily a feminist play, I do enjoy the way gender role-play is both reinforced and slapped around for fun. I think the comedy of the play results from how Caryl Churchill blurs the lines of identity. The ambiguity of gender and the one-dimensionality of relationships is both entertaining and unsettling. I envision the design of the show highlighting that ambiguity.

It is a play about identity and the challenges of fulfilling the roles we are given in life, i.e., sexless mother, all-providing father, dutiful child, and faithful servant. The characters in Cloud Nine are identified by only one aspect. For instance Betty is regarded as a dutiful wife, so she is the dutiful wife. Why must we be just one thing to all parties?

I am intrigued with the layers of the relationships in Cloud Nine. There is a pervasive ambiguity that allows the world of the play to bend both time and the nature of relationships. Both Acts contain acts of violence and are overtly sexual. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang!

I respond to the duality of the characters, not only in how they transform from Act I to Act II, but in how they relate to other characters in their time. Sexual repression is also a big theme in Cloud Nine. I’d like to play with the visualization of sexual repression in the architecture of the characters.

Ultimately, Cloud Nine is a period piece and a reflection of how far we, as a society, have come since 1980. I am interested in how this play will be received in 2010. Hopefully we are creating a piece of entertainment that will inspire reflection and cause reaction.

--Eric van Baars (Assoc. Professor/Director, Cloud Nine)

Auditions for Dance '10: TranscenDANCE

Auditions for the Faculty Dance Concert (Dance '10: TranscenDANCE) were held yesterday. It was particularly exciting because of the new dance studio, where the larger space allowed the dancers to truly stretch their "wings" and fly! It also gave the choreographers a little more aesthetic distance by which to gauge performance.

It is always a marvelous opportunity for the faculty to see the new Dance Majors and Minors (AND one of our post-secondary option students), in the audition situation and this group threw themselves into the experience with a determination and enthusiasm that was palpable. I can't wait to see where these talented dancers are four years from now!

But what struck me the most was the growth and development of the dancers from last year to this. I remember the disappointment of some of the dancers last year when they weren't chosen for this experience. The faculty would say he/she "wasn't quite ready." What a difference a year makes!

The progress in technique, maturity, artistry and even just audition skills in these same individuals gave me chills. Truly we all advance in our own time, but it is sometimes hurtful when we don't quite keep pace with our peers. Then to see this beautiful leap past some of those same peers (in certain areas)...well, the dance faculty teaches for moments like these.

I think all of the returning dancers participated in either last year's Faculty concert, joint BFA Senior Concert/Student Dance Festival, Kent Dance Ensemble or "Oklahoma" last year and those experiences were obvious last night. Performing inspires and feeds the dancer's soul, fueling the desire to improve in the classroom throughout the rest of the year. The auditions are like a report card, marking progress.

Of course, we simply could not cast every dancer who auditioned simply because of rehearsal time conflicts. That's always frustrating to the faculty, but we have to cope with that just as the dancers do. Thankfully, at Kent State, there will be ample opportunities for them to perform this year.

The dancers truly inspired us and I look forward to the journey to December 3!

--Andrea Shearer (Assoc. Prof/Dance Division Director)