Dance Performance: Sound in Motion
On Tuesday evening, the music and dance departments came together in the Bowld to put on a performance, titled Sound in Motion. The performance combined live music with dance. The musical selection included the hymn “Amazing Grace,” the piano piece “Hungarian Dance No. 5” and two West African drumming pieces.
According to Director and Dance Instructor Allison Duke, this was the first ever full collaborative concert between the two departments. “The objective of the concert was to demonstrate the amazing synergy between music and dance, both performed live, in the same space,” she said. While most other dance concerts feature pre-recorded music, the Sound in Motion performance featured Exeter students and faculty performing live. Lower Sarah Liberatore, one of the dancers, liked this addition of live music. “I learned that live music can really add an additional layer of emotion and presentation to a dance,” Liberatore said. “Usually, choreography contributes most to the feeling of a piece, and having live musicians also expressing a feeling combined with the dance in a really cool way.”
The show began with the Concert Choir’s rendition of the “Earth Song” by Frank Ticheli, with all the dancers improvising on stage. Lower Ingrid Bergill commented on how natural the dance looked even though the audience knew it hadn’t been choreographed beforehand. “It was really interesting to see such a large group of dancers work together in a space and make it look so natural,” Bergill said.
“The objective of the concert was to demonstrate the amazing synergy between music and dance, both performed live, in the same space.”
The performance was followed by seniors Ho Joon Kim and Roger Shen’s “Hungarian Dance No. 5,” a duet written by Johannes Brahms. Students in the advanced dance class performed a character dance, a fusion of ballet and Eastern European/Russian folk dance. In order to better understand and choreograph the movements, dancers learned character dance movement vocabularies with Duke. The dancers wore Hungarian ethnic clothing—richly embroidered blouses on top of black skirts. Although she appreciated the opportunity to learn a new style of dance, lower Ella Parsons commented on the rushed preparation for the performance. “We spent a majority of the time before the show choosing the music, which didn’t leave much time for choreography. We choreographed the dance in three days,” she said.
The intermediate dance class took the stage next with music instructor Eric Sinclair on the slide guitar, performing five verses of “Amazing Grace.” Unlike the Hungarian Dance’s fast and lively tempo, the dancers’ movements to “Amazing Grace” were unhurried and flowing, emphasizing the elegance of the choreography.
The West African drumming ensemble led by music instructor Randy Armstrong, joined by guest choreographer Marianne Harkless and guest drummer Sory Diabate, performed last. Harkless held three classes—one master class to learn more about Kou Kou dance and two rehearsals for the dancers. In order to prepare for the dance, a style known as Kou Kou, students rehearsed in class with Duke and fellow dance instructor Amberlee Darling from the beginning of December. Liberatore commented on the fast pace and animated atmosphere of the performance, saying, “I had a lot of fun performing the African piece. Although it was tiring, the fast pace of the drums and the knowledge that the dance is traditionally a dance for celebration made me just put all my energy into it and really have fun.”
The finale of the piece included members of the community. Towards the end of the West African drumming performance, dancers ran out into the crowd, bringing audience members down to the stage to dance with them. Children, students and elderly all joined in on the dance party, clapping and jumping to the beat as the West African drumming ensemble provided lively music.