Kiyomi Kikuchi
Multimedia credit: Kiyomi Kikuchi
Leaping forward and back, more than 80 dancers fascinated a full-capacity crowd with their beauty, rhythm, design and dynamics in the 2008 Spring Dance Concert.
Twenty-one dances by 21 choreographers, including modern dance, hip-hop, tap, ballet, dance drama and improvisation, were performed from Friday to Sunday at the Performing Arts Building.
“This concert has an underlying theme of blast from the past and leap to the future,” said dance director Marian Weiser. Half of the performances are rearranged from the past, and two of them took a news-style multimedia approach.
“ALA,” which is modern dance, was choreographed 10 years ago by Michelle Encinares and Trish Evangelista, choreographer and dancer, respectively. They have rearranged it several times and now it is improved, according to Encinares.
“This is deep and meaningful,” Encinares said. “I didn’t know the meaning of the dance, but I know the meaning now.”
Evangelista thinks this year’s ALA is the best performance.
Another aspect of the concert was to show future dancing styles.
“We will see in the future for dance much multimedia, and that is the basis of the particular dance concert,” Weiser said.
“The Eye” is an example of the multimedia dancing style.
The big screen behind dancers was playing “Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, while pale-faced dancers expressed the story with images and sound.
“I agree the multimedia is the future of dance style,” said Jacqueline Eusanio, one of the dancers.
Dancers perform at the Spring Dance Concert. ()
Annie Moskovian practices one of her dances, “Ignite.” ()