“I dance because I can’t picture myself doing anything else. I know it is something that will always be a part of my life,” said dedicated dancer Chloe Gray, a senior majoring in dance and a performer in “Crossroads” dance show.
Saturday afternoon, the EMU Dance Program presented the senior projects concert, “Crossroads,” in Pease Auditorium highlighting the choreography of senior dance performance majors Caitlin Brown, Elizabeth Hynes, Annie Jones, Joy Morris and Rebecca Zahm. Those in attendance received both free admission and Learning Beyond the Classroom credit.
The program consisted of solo dances for each featured senior followed by group pieces performed by students in the EMU Dance Department. All dances were choreographed by the selected senior dancers.
“I have had the pleasure of working with Liz Hynes (‘Coming To Terms’) and Cate Brown (‘Feminology’) throughout the semester. Both of them have created amazing pieces,” Gray said. “They have taught me not only about myself as a young artist, but myself as a person. Both of their pieces started out as a concept and they have done a beautiful job at making their visions come to life.”
“Crossroads” is a display of modern dance in its many manipulated forms, but the EMU Dance Program has trained
its dancers to do much more.
“My experiences in the EMU Dance Program have been phenomenal. There are several benefits to being part of this program. As a freshman, I have been given so many performance opportunities,” said Gray, who has danced in performances like “Swan Lake,” the Guest Artist and Faculty Concert, American College Dance Festival and “Crossroads.”
“I have gotten to work with a wonderful faculty and guest artist, Peter Kyle. Not to mention how close everyone in the program is. I am really happy with my decision to attend Eastern for Dance.”
According to Miryam Johnson, a freshman dance major and performer in “Crossroads,” “We’re all like a family. We’re really close. It makes us more comfortable to connect on stage, to do lifts; we trust each other.”
What makes this show unique is that it caters to the students behind the movement.
“This is a student done performance. It’s our work, what we’re trying to say. I feel like it shows what young people are concerned about, things that young people struggle with,” Johnson said.
Themes range from love to grief to relationships.
“It’s about things that we go through every day in this awkward stage between being a teenager and an actual adult,” Johnson said.
Every piece was heartfelt and sentimental, delivering powerful messages to onlookers through pointed toes and muscles contracted and controlled by passionate dancers.
“My favorite numbers are There Are No Victims, Only Volunteers, Coming To Terms and Feminology,” Gray said.
There Are No Victims challenged dancers to contort in ways alien to most, appearing as if they were a VHS tape being rewound.
“Feminology I feel a lot. I feel like it really relates to how women really are and how we’d rather be,” Johnson said. “Liz’s piece about grieving called Coming To Terms touched me. I didn’t lose anybody recently but it just spoke.”
Elizabeth Hynes takes the audience through the five stages of grief: denial, bargaining, anger, depression and acceptance.
For Johnson, every dance is an opportunity for the audience “to connect with what we’re trying to portray.”
Gray mentions, “The show is hopefully going to bring out a lot of emotion from the audience. All of the choreographers have really pulled from places of true experiences and feeling.”
Dance can be empowering for both the audience and the dancers putting on the show.
“I want people to appreciate our dancing,” said Jenni Flannigan, EMU dance major and performer in “Crossroads.” “People think it’s so easy. All of the training, the rehearsals, the time and dedication plus memory skills and portrayal. Not to mention make-up and hair styling.”
“EMU has a strong Dance Program filled with talented artists. Support from the Eastern community is something we are always looking for,” Gray said.
For a full listing of future music and dance events, visit http://www.emich.edu/music/events/index.php for details.
