Mêlée reinvents movement and expression
Laura Streyle
Issue date: 5/29/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
This Saturday evening, Lawrence's student dance troupe "Reinvented" the energy of Stansbury Theatre and dazzled a full house of spectators during its 2009 spring performance.
Mêlée displayed the beauty that can come of unreserved creative collaboration, of artistic chaos. Blending emotions of heartbreak, rejuvenation and nostalgia through the dancers' pirouetting, hip-hopping and tap dancing, a thoroughly enjoyable evening came to life.
The program was a pleasing collage of student-choreographed routines that the dancers were given late winter term, along with guest appearances from Cabaret and Lawrence Swing Dance club.
Previous to the choreographing, Mêlée dancers attended technique classes that gave choreographers an idea of the skill level and dancing experience they had to work with. Apparently, the dancers displayed an impressive level of ability, as the program was filled with many difficult tricks and plenty of attitude.
When the lights came up to reveal a group of eerie doll-like masks floating on the shoulders of a group of dancers, the homogeneity of the facial expressions was immediately unsettling. To the hypnotizing beat and subtly disturbing lyrics of M.I.A.'s "20 Dollar," the dancers portrayed a dystopian world where laughter was choreographed and movement was controlled by external, mechanized forces.
Needless to say, it was a relief when these dancers reappeared on stage for later dances with their familiarly animate expressions. When a group of sassy women taught sophomore Kyle Brauer that they can turn a lady's man into a man who ladies will not have through the entertaining dance sequence choreographed to "Heartbreaker," the back and forth play of flirtatiousness and rejection was playfully obvious. And if you have not seen Brauer's explosive straddle jumps, you are missing out.
Speaking of jumps, two toe-tapping couples representing Lawrence Swing Dance showed the audience that there is more to the saying than "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" - apparently, you also need spring.
Mêlée displayed the beauty that can come of unreserved creative collaboration, of artistic chaos. Blending emotions of heartbreak, rejuvenation and nostalgia through the dancers' pirouetting, hip-hopping and tap dancing, a thoroughly enjoyable evening came to life.
The program was a pleasing collage of student-choreographed routines that the dancers were given late winter term, along with guest appearances from Cabaret and Lawrence Swing Dance club.
Previous to the choreographing, Mêlée dancers attended technique classes that gave choreographers an idea of the skill level and dancing experience they had to work with. Apparently, the dancers displayed an impressive level of ability, as the program was filled with many difficult tricks and plenty of attitude.
When the lights came up to reveal a group of eerie doll-like masks floating on the shoulders of a group of dancers, the homogeneity of the facial expressions was immediately unsettling. To the hypnotizing beat and subtly disturbing lyrics of M.I.A.'s "20 Dollar," the dancers portrayed a dystopian world where laughter was choreographed and movement was controlled by external, mechanized forces.
Needless to say, it was a relief when these dancers reappeared on stage for later dances with their familiarly animate expressions. When a group of sassy women taught sophomore Kyle Brauer that they can turn a lady's man into a man who ladies will not have through the entertaining dance sequence choreographed to "Heartbreaker," the back and forth play of flirtatiousness and rejection was playfully obvious. And if you have not seen Brauer's explosive straddle jumps, you are missing out.
Speaking of jumps, two toe-tapping couples representing Lawrence Swing Dance showed the audience that there is more to the saying than "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" - apparently, you also need spring.
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