Don鈥檛 plan on sitting down and watching an ordinary recital for 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 next dance performance. In fact, most people at 鈥淒anceworks鈥� won鈥檛 be sitting at all.
The 蜜桃传媒 Windancers will perform 鈥淒anceworks鈥� Friday, Nov. 17, and Saturday, Nov. 18, in at 8 p.m.
The dozen dancers, separated into two groups, will perform in the theater鈥檚 foyer and on the main stage at the same time. Audience members will surround the performers at both locations.
However, the most unusual part about 鈥淒anceworks鈥� is how the performance has been created. Instead of designing a set, lighting and choreography to existing music, Directors and have reversed the creative process.
鈥淭he set design has been created first along with lighting,鈥� says Whiteman. 鈥淭he dancer鈥檚 phrases are being set in the studio separately. We do not know how it is going to feel.鈥�
They also have no idea what it is going to sound like. , associate professor of music and department chair, has not yet revealed his composition that will accompany the performance.
鈥淚t is an experiment in collage,鈥� Whiteman says, 鈥減utting different things together and seeing what we can come up with. And this is all going to happen 10 days before the performance in the first rehearsal.鈥�
The reversal of process can be unsettling to some of the performers.
鈥淪ome of the students are used to dancing in lines in competition or in ballet and they are intrigued,鈥� says Whiteman. 鈥淪ometimes they are confused, but we keep saying that it is an experience and we are all learning from it.
鈥淭here are a lot of unknowns. The best we can tell them is to be prepared for the unexpected. So we are experimenting in the studio with some different ways of moving their bodies beyond the choreography.鈥�
Set and lighting design have been created by and Jonathan Hicks. Erlyne Whiteman, Victoria Finlayson, and Ashley Olsen are creating the choreography. Musicscape will be composed by Steve Butler. Ellen Sheppard is 鈥淒anceworks鈥� costume designer.
Ticket availability will be limited, $10 general admission, and $5 for students. For reservations or more information, please call Darcy Galvan at (805) 565-6040.