Prime movers showcase graces the stage

The best minds of past centuries speculated the existence of the Prime Mover, that which acts without being acted upon, a First Cause which set the universe in motion at the exact instant time began.

Prime Movers takes this theory and brings it home as the name of UNCG's organization of dance students who last weekend displayed the diversity of forms and conceptions within this prestigious department. Peeking through a crack in the door to watch a girl dancing to herself in her own bedroom was the feeling given by the night's first piece “Put it on.” Loren Groenendaal's creation was a personal one, with a certain careening and 'wildness' that made is seem like an improvisation though it was not. Groenendaal had several interesting movements during this piece, such as an ability to move some of her limbs in a slightly independent fashion, creating a 'segmented' look to her body and movements. These movements shifted near the end into a sort of intoxicated looseness that raised interest just as the curtain fell.

A very clever and noteworthy experiment was tested during “Inadvertent Correspondence” by Andrea Lalley and Kay Stewart. Impeccable lighting was the first aspect to be noticed, as the two young women were sheathed in what appeared like sunlight, and which never hit the floor or curtain. This was not an acrobatically challenging work, but not every act of dance has to be.

Instead, the two young women, whose own physical appearances importantly were similar, began to 'correspond' with one another. The two dancers often performed the same movements, but in a completely perpendicular way, as in one girl facing the audience while another offered only her profile. This cleverly summoned the spirit of Cubism and allowed the audience to be able to 'see' a movement of dance from more than a single angle.

Returning from “Inadvertent Correspondence's” experiment of technique and back into the personal, “Next to You” was performed by a single person, Jennifer Cheek. She remained energetic and in a constant fluid motion beneath an interesting musical recording of Adele. And indeed she seemed to be 'beneath' something as Cheek often gazed upward, beyond the ceiling. Nor was this just looking up for the sake of it, given the seriousness of her expression.

Ghosts of the twentieth century's tyrannical political movements arose for the fourth piece, labeled “___ism” in which a half-dozen beautiful women are transformed into simple cogs of the machine. A disjointed and sparse sort of industrial music filled the air as the dancers began the piece, with the jerking and inhuman motions of marionettes. Often a number of the dancers performed similar motions to the others, while a few or one drift ed or adopt a slightly different set of movement. When one dancer broke from the pattern and try to escape, two others with blank expressions stopped, sometimes forcefully. “___ism” suggested a tempo and mood similar to Martha Graham's 'Steps in the Streets' of the 1930's, a reaction to Fascism and war.

Daniel Deaver who was visiting UNCG with his girlfriend, a prospective Spartan, felt this piece gave him “an awkward nervous energy” and made his “stomach churn” until he felt a “final release.”

Regular followers of UNCG Dance would remember “Archetypically Sketched” from last December's departmental concert. Lauren Drake offered a revision or new installment of this piece, now with three dancers instead of the two, a duo which before had so perfectly worked together. Three ropes crossed the stage while the dancers kept the same recognizable gentleness in their motions and interactions as what we saw in late fall. But less is sometimes more, and Drake's choreography with two performers and a single string may have been stronger.

“Alone” was hardly as despairing as the title of the next piece would suggest. Haley Marsh was sensual and tender, if melancholy, in this solo work. A 1960's feeling was evident both in her musical selection and dress, which culminated in a twist of ending as she sat clutching her knees like a distraught child.

Melissa Pihos' work which rounded out the evening was as complicated as it was gripping. “Group Consciousness” was the title of this piece.
A single performer, Sammie Abernathy, led the eight other dancers who seemed to fill the entire space of the stage. Abernathy began movement and the others immediately aped the same motions, their eyes fixed on her. Pihos has an understanding of choreography both from the performer's and the audience's perspective, as often a particular dancer draw one's gaze and carefully lead it to the next area of action. At other times during the brief moments where most of the dancers were off stage, a single performer remained only to be 'rounded up' by another disciple.

An unthinking devotion followed Abernathy, as like an insect queen, when she tried to escape and dance alone the others would carefully but determinedly collect her and bring her to the center. In any event, Prime Movers was a strong opening to this semester's student-created dance.

On March 19 and 20 Amanda Diorio will prove what she has learned at UNCG in her Master's Thesis performance.