WOU’s Annual Spring Dance Concert

May 16, 2007

By Ashley Moran and Amy Nyberg

Ballerinas, tap dancers, and breakers oh my!

This year’s Spring Dance Concert took place at Western Oregon University, in the Rice Auditorium (a cozy venue with a great view no matter where you sit). The concert itself consisted of approximately twelve separate dance pieces, choreographed by both professors and dance students at the university.

As a former WOU student, I was ecstatic to visit the same stage I had the pleasure to dance on once upon a time. Although I enjoyed all of the dances, my favorites consisted of “Wired for Sound”, choreographed by Sharon Oberst; “Limit Break”, choreographed by Samuel Hobbs; and “Man of My Dreams”, choreographed by Valerie Bergman and Darryl Thomas.

“Wired for Sound” was especially unique, as each of the dancers moved with wireless flex sensors and accelerometers attached to their backs. These sensors connected to a nearby computer, creating music based on the speed of each dancer’s movement. This was a ballet piece, but the music was very modern (almost like techno music) which gave the dance a very funky, upbeat feeling. It was refreshing to see ballet portrayed in a non-traditional fashion.

“Limit Break” was a style dancers refer to as “thrash jazz”, as all of their movements were very sharp and precise. The music that accompanied this routine was rock music, which gave the dance a very rough-and-tough attitude. I would love to learn a dance like that to get some aggression out!

“Man of My Dreams” was one of the funniest dance pieces I’ve seen in a long time. The audience expected to see a traditional love story, but what we ended up seeing was far from that assumption. There were two main dancers, a man and a woman, who danced together and “mocked” the components of a traditional ballet. At one point during the piece, they danced behind the main stage, in what looked like a window. They danced together, and it ended up looking like the two dancers switched legs! This type of humor could be found throughout the entire piece. They were later joined by a group of dancers on scooters, who were dressed as half women and half men. I didn’t realize this at the beginning, because the dancers rode in sideways on their scooters, and we didn’t see that they were dressed this way until they switched directions.
-Reviews by Ashley Moran

It is not often that you find a group of non-professional male dancers that are truly entertaining. But, that is exactly what I found at Western Oregon Universities’ Spring Dance Concert. The all-male piece entitled “Men Dancing: Back in the Game,” shattered my stereotypical view (typically not good dancers) of non-professional male dancers. The piece was choreographed by Darryl Thomas in collaboration with the dancers and incorporated humor, strength and tons of energy to make it really enjoyable to watch. What impressed me the most was the quality of movement each dancer displayed. You could tell these men were there because they enjoyed what they were doing. Hopefully these kind of great performances inspire more young men to take up dancing.
-Review by Amy Nyberg

For more information on dance performances in Oregon, please visit our Arts and Culture section.

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