Dancers can take audiences through a sequence of events, ranging in many emotions and changes. In the University of Idaho’s “Defining Balance” show, they accomplished just that and did it beautifully.
“Defining Balance” should have been called “Balance Redefined.” They didn’t have to be perfectly in sync with each other, it was much more of an individual event as the moves were choreographed to be off time or just after one another.
Melanie Vinan | Courtesy
University of Idaho dance program performs “Defining Balance.” “Defining Balance” is a production based on balancing lives and interacting with others.
The first dance “Grain of Sand” started with an audio track of music synced to voices talking about balance and its meaning and the affects it has daily.
Two dancers, Belle Baggs and Melanie Meenan, performed in sync and opposite to each other. They changed as the voices changed and as the definitions of balance changed, showing instead of telling what each one was.
Watching the performance served as a grand introduction.
The next piece was aptly named “Awe + Wonder.” This was performed by six dancers: Taylor Eddleston, Sydney Knudson, Abigail Raasch, Kristal Garland Smith, Lauren Smith and Brianna Wilfert.
This piece played beautifully off of the last one, but instead dabbled in the theme of vastness and significance incorporating fluid and wave like motions. Inspired by extraordinary feelings, it all jumped into life with moments of calm but constant motion.
The third piece didn’t play with opposites, but rather went after an imbalance in society. Titled “Ogum: To Protect” it addressed “police brutality against victims who are disproportionally black and impoverished.” They accomplished this by first playing a mix audio of different clippings of voices wanting to “all just get along,” of fatality reports from riots and news casters covering these stories.
The piece was performed by six dancers: Elizabeth Helwick, Hailey Herrington, Stephany Brown, Ami Gossi, Abby Shepard and Jody Drown. Each one wore a black hoodie.
The movements in this piece were shorter and sharper, but they were all in reaction to the voices in the audio track.
The fourth and most comically introduced piece was titled “(Un) familiar.” This piece was composed of five dancers: Christine Atwood, Aleks Day, Sydney Knudson, Lisa Nikssarian and Claire Raynard. It explored how people meet and the affect that meetings have. Here the movements were messier, the dancers moved in an almost childlike nature.
The fifth piece, “Swallowed by the Sun” did not carry quite as heavy of an impact. Although it was beautifully done, it just didn’t have the same depth of emotion.
The dancers were all skilled, however while it was a cohesive and well-done performance it just didn’t have the depth of the other pieces.
The sixth piece, “Stronger Shines the Light Inside,” definitely picked the show back up. Performed by Lauren Smith it was an immediately more personal.
There was one dancer in focus with a light she could turn on and off and different stage lights added different meaning to her movements. She was perfect, she was flawed, she wanted to avoid the light and she wanted to strut in it. She was human.
She really brought back into focus the shows feeling of balance and opposing forces.
The final piece titled, “For/Against” was beautifully brought back opposing forces between societal structure and internal movement.
This performance consisted of eight dancers: Christine Atwood, Sydney Knudson, Lisa Nikssarian, Claire Raynard, Abigail Raasch, Kristal Garland-Smith, Whitney Summer and Brianna Wilfert. The dancers all wore military style green high collar shirts and used chairs as props. They were moving in and out as the chairs disappeared and reappeared. A smaller amount of them became less orderly and within the last bit of the dance there the audience heard a warrior’s yell. Overall, it was a very composed finale.
As a whole, the show was well put on. It was easy to see the choreographers and dancers had put time and effort into the production. They did well and they earned every applause and cheer that they got. The moves were timed well and one can only hope that in the future they put on more of these fabulous performances.
Mary Emert can be reached at [email protected]