The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - 5A
Physics, seduction and modern dance __
By ERIN STEELE
DailyArts Writer
There's no intuitive connection
between modern dance, seduction
and particle physics. But those who
attend the Uni-
versity Dance (Re)Visiona
Company's "(Re)
visionary Dance" Dance
concert will wit- Tomorrowat
ness an explora- Tmr am
tion of all these 7:30 p.m.
subjects through Power Center
the performance Tickets from $18
0 of Paul Tay-
lor's "Le Sacre du Printemps" (The
Rehearsal) and premiere routines by
School of Music, Theatre & Dance
Professors of Dance Amy Chavasse,
Jessica Fogel and Sandra Torijano
* DeYoung.
In an e-mail interview, School
of Music, Theatre & Dance Thur-
nau Professor of Dance and Artistic
Director Peter Sparling wrote that,
as part of the "(Re)visionary Dance"
series, this performance will "build a
program of new dances by three U-M
faculty choreographers around a
master dancemaker's re-envisioning
- or better, reinvention - of the most
radical, defining moment in 20th-
century music and dance."
That moment was the 1913 pre-
miere of Ballet Russes's "Le Sacre de
Printemps," choreographed by Vaslav
Nijinsky and set to the music of Igor
Stravinsky. The ballet was ridiculed
by audiences after the first few per-
formances for its unconventional,
s awkward movements and dark music.
At the ti
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In her
ime, the work clearly had no of Music, Theatre & Dance, Chavasse
a world of romantic, soft, has chosen to explore the theme of
e ballet. seduction in her piece, "The Hun-
0, choreographer Paul Taylor ger for the Longing for the Craving
to restage the work through for the Aching (A Biased History of
of modern dance. Combining Seduction)." Set to different versions
s of film noir and gangster- of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is
iolence, Taylor layered vari- Your Land," the piece explores the
lines together to depict of a multiple facets of seduction, includ-
dance company in rehearsal, ing the psychological and political
ting Nijinsky's original work. aspects.
iversity's 30th anniversary "Hopefully someone could come
gwill honor the famed chore- and know nothing about Woody or
r's 80th birthday. the origin of 'This Land is Your Land'
g new life to a classic, faculty and just watch it and have a nice
s Chavasse, Fogel and Tori- warm glow and be happy about it,"
e created pieces that respond Chavasse said. "But there's a deeper
ack from previous audiences idea. No one will walk away saying it
t that modern dance was was dark."
id dark. Fogel's work, titled "Out of Thin
Air - Lightness," explores the con-
cept of how the lightness of the
-d g - o subatomic world reflects our own
Of essential lightness.
[sunderstoodd "Since we have a time limit on the
duration for our dances, I narrowed
rom both past my topic mostly to this - a kind of
poetic take on some of the questions
.nd present. being raised in the field of particle
physics," Fogel wrote in an e-mail
interview.
Inspiration for her piece includes
isse has set out to create a a book by Nobel Prize-winning phys-
oyous piece that will appeal icist Frank Wilczek entitled "The
nces. Lightness of Being," as well as the
ern dance is seen as dark and University's involvement in particle
I and hard to understand by physics research.
perhaps because of theme, Even if it doesn't teach you particle
design elements," Chavasse physics, Sparling hopes "(Re)Vision-
that does that mean? Why is ary Dance" will prove entertaining.
en as dark?" "We hope you enjoy the specta-
fourth year with the School cle," he wrote.
One of these head bobs in not like the others.
A f1ilthy fresh 'rew'
Overplayed stereotypes mar
MTV's hip-hop dance show
By LINDSAY HURD
For the Daily
They say if you've seen one dance reality compe-
tition show, you've seen them all. And this is clearly
the case for MTV's token
dance competition show *
"Randy Jackson Presents:
America's Best Dance Crew," J
an urban combination of "So
You Think You Can Dance" PresentS:
and "American Idol" with America's Best
some hip-hop steroids.
In the fifth season of Dance Crew,
"ABDC," there are a few Seasn MFive
changes to the competi-
tion's format. The first Thursdays at
three weeks are the semi- 10 p.m.
final battles between dif- MTV
ferent dance groups from
different parts of the coun-
trybefore headingon to the big-time competition
between the nine best dance groups. The pre-
miere begins with five different groups from the
South who hope to make their way into the finals.
The judges are the same washed-up pop stars:
JC Chasez and LII' Mama with the addition of
Omarion. If this seems like a desperate last effort
on their part to become relevant, that's because it
is. Each pretends to be an expert dancer, but none
of them has anything valid to say. The major-
ity of the comments are along the lines of "Love
the energy" or "You just need to bring it," which
leaves the viewer and dancers with no usable con-
structive criticismto go on. The worstofthe three
is definitely Omarion, who couldn't even think of
what to say half the time. When he did, he would
repeat what the other judges were saying.
Along with the once-famous judges, every-
thing about "ABDC" screams hip-hop stereotype.
It tries to differentiate itself from the millions of
other dance reality competition shows by making
itself seem young and hip. This is reinforced by the
back room called the "garage" and the judge's hor-
ribly contrived urban dialect. While it's true that
hip-hop dancing is the program's focus, terms like
"Dirty South" perpetuate outdated and detrimen-
tal stereotypes created by the rap genre.
But the worst part about "ABDC" is host Mario
Lopez. Every sentence out of his mouth is full of
alliterations that heuses to try to sound more hip
and thug-like, with a cheesy smile to match. His
use of phrases like the "filthy freshness of the
dirty dance crews" and "riots sparked all over the
streets" confuses more than anything else. Some-
one should probably fire Lopez's writer to save
some money, because he will always be AC Slater
from "Saved by the Bell," and never the gangster
from the streets the show wants him to be.
Despite the faux-gangster facade, the talent
on "ABDC" shines strong enough to redeem the
show. Each group has a unique style and look.
For example, dance crew Jungle Boogie created
its own style of dance called "cranking." The
change in the show's format is actually beneficial,
because the best and most gifted dance crews
actually do make it to the finals.
Producer Randy Jackson needs to realize
that his street lingo is horribly distracting, and
"ABDC" needs to concentrate on highlighting
original and talented dance groups. If not, it's
doomed to fail.
ARTS IN BRIEF
LECTURE PREVIEW
* Creative structure
Penny W. Stamps lecture:
Bjarke Ingels
Tomorrow at 5:10 p.m.
Michigan Theater
The School of Art & Design's Penny
W. Stamps lectures feature innovative
and modern artists from across the
world. An exciting lineup of speak-
ers is planned for the next couple
months, starting with Bjarke Ingels.
Ingels is a young Danish architect
who has formed a new architectural
philosophy of structural and creative
evolution, combined with social con-
sciousness, in just the past four years
with his firm, BIG.
His lecture, titled "Yes Is More,"
will focus on his ability to use the
challenges faced by society to his
advantage and to continue creating
bigger and more remarkable struc-
tures that at first seem impossible or
fictional. The phrase is also the title
of the comic book he created, which
illustrates the process of planning
these buildings in a uniquely story-
like way.
Not only are his works aestheti-
cally pleasing, but they serve higher
purposes in the community. Many of
his designs have included methods
for responsible energy consumption,
while also using economical material,
making the overall project much less
expensive. These buildings have been
constructed all over the world, and
have served such purposes as librar-
ies, museums and houses.
The BIG firm also offers an intern-
shipprograminDenmarkforstudents
who have been studying architecture
for at least three years.
BRAD SANDERS
H PV Fact
It is estimated that eac
US, there is a new case of
in the
warts.
HPV Fact
:
Guys cng creefor.
So there's no way tif a guy has
the vr or is passing it on.
Visit your campus health center.
MERCK
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