Thesis Candidate Anna Gayley: Geographic Movement

The concept of Geometric Movement is based on a piece by Trisha Brown called Locus, in combination with examining the Platonic Solids and how they behave in Laban Movement Analysis. My show uses these movements, shapes, and ideas to create a dance piece that is suitable for my research on the interdisciplinary studies of Dance and Math. As the dancers move around the cube, they create a physical representation of a cube's symmetries and rotations. I hope that anyone with a background or knowledge in dance, math, both, or neither is able to leave this show with a new understanding or curiosity of either discipline.

Thesis Candidate Catie Bryant: At The Barre

“At The Barre” is an exploration of five dancers’ experiences growing up in ballet, from when they started to where they are now, here at Reed. The piece was inspired by Jerome Bel’s work “Veronique Doisneau,” a performance work about a dancer in the corps at the Paris Opera Ballet on the eve of her retirement. The piece is vulnerable and very frank, with spoken stories about Doisneau’s time in the ballet company interspersed with choreography from various ballets that Doisneau has performed in, and some she has not. “Veronique Doisneau” blends elements of dance performance with elements of theatre to highlight a dancer that never achieved the title of “etoile,” or “star,” in the Paris Opera Ballet’s hierarchy. “At The Barre” draws from this openness and vulnerability to showcase how these five dancers navigate their relationships to ballet as an artform, while complicating the idea of a ballet performance. Drawing from ballet classes and interviews with the cast, this show takes place where all dancers of ballet spend the majority of their time – at the barre. 

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