See You Again Th Show Goes on

Courtesy of Crystal Navellier

April v, 2021

Arts & Culture

Locally Grown Trip the light fantastic toe Goes Virtual: The Making of "See You Over again" and "the Eclipse (ellipses) … … …"

Every spring, the Cornell Performing and Media Arts department puts on a production of Locally Grown Trip the light fantastic toe. More than a typical dance concert, these shows are experiences. The dancing makes yous think, and technical elements transform the dancers into another globe. Withal, this twelvemonth, Locally Grown cannot put on an in-person show. The dancers, choreographers, and technical staff of the show accept risen to the claiming of creating performance art during the pandemic. They take created 2 captivating pieces that utilise the virtual format of moving-picture show to transcend across what an in-person dance operation is capable of. This is a dance show you don't want to miss!

This year's Locally Grown lies at the intersection of many fields of performing and media arts, which sets this yr'south show apart from whatever other. It features some of Cornell's near talented dancers, performing to music recorded by local artists, including professor Annie Lewandowski'due south ring Powerdove, pianist Syau-Cheng Lai, and violinist Max Buckholtz. Several different sets and props are used throughout the performance, a characteristic that would be difficult to execute in the usual circumstances of in-person dance concerts. Additionally, projection mapping and adept lighting are used to enhance the visual effect of dancers' movement. What truly sets this prove apart from previous years is its use of filmography. Each section of dancing was filmed from multiple camera angles, and then when the show is edited together, it will be much more than the recordings of trip the light fantastic routines of the past—the movie itself will be a work of art. Dancer Maddy Lee '21 explains that "when yous are performing in person in a normal year and they're filming it, they're filming it from one angle, and yous encounter the whole stage." This year though, we tin can wait "close, dynamic type shots." The film format allows the audience to collaborate with the performers like never before, offering, as director Byron Suber puts it, a "different kind of intimacy that is unavailable in a live theatre." The pandemic has afforded the dancers and choreographers the opportunity to interpret their already stunning dance pieces into compelling films, and to provide the audience with a one-of-a kind dance experience.

The show consists of two pieces, "the Eclipse (ellipses) … … …" and "See You Again," both of which reflect the collective emotions we all take experienced during the past yr.

"the Eclipse (ellipses) … … …" was directed by professor Byron Suber, who drew inspiration from the confusion of the pandemic. He shares, "The initial inspiration for the title of the slice in development, "the Eclipse", was in part inspired by the Antonioni film, the Eclipse… a film that ends with 7 minutes of nothing-ness, expressing a feeling of loss and absence. I felt that going through the lockdown of the pandemic felt similar an in betwixt time of nothing-ness and the questions of what came before and what would come up after were a mistiness… The lockdown for me because a series of ellipses, a waiting in zilch-ness and a lack of clarity about what was ahead." The piece utilizes unlike sets that are meant to illustrate the different feelings of the pandemic from solitude and messiness, to fantasy and escape, to a completely blank set that reflects the feeling of nil-ness.

Professor Jumay Chu's piece, titled "See You Once more," makes use of set pieces and the medium of film to permit u.s.a. to see the dancers in a whole new low-cal.  A highlight of the piece is its apply of large, reflective, yet translucent plexiglass panels that play off the lighting and the dancers' bodies to create stunning visuals. Chu explains, "the panels framed, hid, elided, or multiplied the moving figures of dancers. The trip the light fantastic is nigh how we see the dancers, how they create pregnant for themselves and for us, what nosotros can see repeated, what we take missed. With the dancers in front of, behind, between the panels, we encounter and re-run into them." "See Y'all Again" goes beyond the physicality of the theme'due south expression through its visuals, as the theme of seeing again has been central to the creation of the piece. Chu says, "Personally, I am re-seeing these dancers I have been working with since last September, simply each time I see them dance, I acquire something new about them, I understand something dissimilar, I learn nearly what I missed earlier, I notice something more." In a way, while "the Eclipse (ellipses) … … …" focuses on the struggle of getting through the pandemic, "Run into Y'all Once more" represents the relief of it catastrophe, or at to the lowest degree, finding ways to see each other inside the pandemic, like the filming of the show. Dancer Savannah Jeffries '24 notes, "It's reflecting the atmosphere of the world right now," every bit vaccines become available and the finish of the pandemic is in sight.

Training for the bear witness started last fall, with dancers meeting over Zoom to learn choreography and to workshop their ain ideas into fully developed trip the light fantastic toe pieces. Working over Zoom provided a multitude of challenges unique to dance. Unlike content in academic courses, which can easily be conveyed virtually, dance movement carries energy and visual precision that is not accurately captured over a screen. Furthermore, the time lags on Zoom brand it difficult to tell whether dancers are synchronized and moving as one and with the choreographer'south intended quality of movement. As Suber puts it, "not having 360 degree access to views of the dancers bodies made the effort of shaping the dancers' bodies with any exactitude quite difficult." Despite the challenges of Zoom, the dancers were nevertheless grateful to have the opportunity to dance in a studio infinite at all. Jeffries says, "Information technology was really nice, even though our rehearsals were on Zoom, but to exist in the studio offset semester. My student run dance groups were non able to exercise that at all."

 Closer to filming, the dancers were able to gather in small groups for in-person rehearsals, and they were finally brought together every bit a whole group at the offset of the filming procedure. Chu emphasized the value of in-person rehearsal for dancers, explaining that "The amount of work that was accomplished in those two hours of [in-person] rehearsal was probably tenfold compared to working over Zoom" when the dancers were finally able to come together.

The show was filmed in Kiplinger auditorium over the course of a couple weeks, with filming sessions often lasting upwards of 5 hours for dancers, and even longer for movie coiffure and technical staff.  Although the filming hours were long, Madeline Silva '22 says information technology was worth information technology: "Honestly, some of our filming days felt similar the most normal thing I've done in a full year!" The unabridged process took place in a COVID-condom, socially distanced manner, with masks included in dancers' costumes and choreography preventing dancers from standing closer than six feet apart. As a upshot, dancers had to navigate the challenge of connecting with each other through their movement, but without contact.

The show couldn't be more timely. The pandemic has now been a function of our lives for over a year, and now is the beginning of the process of getting back to normal. Silva expressed, "The Locally Grown bear witness last twelvemonth was the final weekend before campus started shutting downwardly, and then this felt very full circle – nosotros aren't back where nosotros started yet, but this felt similar a truthful footstep in the right direction."  In April 2021, with vaccines at present available all over New York, information technology seems like nosotros are one step closer to seeing each other again, and to ending the cycle of ellipses.

Locally Grown Trip the light fantastic promises to be both securely meaningful and feature Cornell'due south finest dancing and filmmaking. To scout the prove on April 7th-10th, you can RSVP for free to receive a link on the Performing and Media Arts website.

Lauren Douglass is a freshman in the College of Artsand Sciences. She can be reached at [e-mail protected]

valezempind.blogspot.com

Source: https://cornellsun.com/2021/04/05/locally-grown-dance-goes-virtual-the-making-of-see-you-again-and-the-eclipse-ellipses/

Share this post