Students balance dance act

By Sarah Williams

As audience members watch the Brown Bag Series this week, the finished product can look effortless to the casual observer.

But what students may not realize is how much effort is put into creating, developing and actually putting on each piece.

Choreographing is like painting, junior student choreographer and dance performance major Parisa Khobdeh said. Just as an artist begins with a blank canvas and must decide what colors and brushstrokes to use, a dancer begins with a selection of music and must create movement to tell a story.

The challenge begins with the selection of music.

"You find music that inspires you, that gives you a vision of movement," junior dance major Kendra Sides said.

Other students choose their music based upon a preconceived idea.

"Sometimes I approach a piece with an absolute purpose and choose my music to provoke a feeling," said Khobdeh, who is also a computer science major.

Another important aspect of building a piece is the dancers themselves. They play an integral part in the creation of a dance, student choreographer Orlando Martinez said. When selecting dancers for a piece, Martinez looks for individuals who are able to carry the idea he has in mind through their movement.

After a piece is created, the choreographer will work with the dancers to fine tune the focus or accent of the piece.

"The challenge in choreographing is that you are responsible for the movement of all of your dancers, not just your own movement," Martinez said.

An experienced dancer often brings aspects of their own personality to the piece.

"What's nice is when you have an idea to communicate to the dancer," Khobdeh said. "A good dancer's own dialogue will come through in his interpretation of the movement."

Khobdeh said that dancers will often introduce another layer to the piece that the choreographer had not thought of before.

Choreography for Brown Bag differs from other productions. Sides said one difference is that the atmosphere is more relaxed.

"When you create a piece you keep in mind who your audience will be," Sides said. "With Brown Bag [the audience] is going to be students as well as elementary school kids. The process is more relaxed and more fun."

The type of venue is also a consideration when creating the shapes for the dancer's bodies, said Khobdeh. On a normal stage, a performance will be primarily frontal.

With Brown Bag taking place in the Owen fine Arts Center lobby, the audience is on all sides and can even watch the piece from above. Khobdeh said a choreographer needs to consider how each movement will look from all angles.

Also, since Brown Bag is a production created and performed by students, the choreographers are directing their peers. Sides said this can sometimes be a challenge.

In the past there has been difficulty due to the level of friendship between the dancers and the choreographers. It can be hard to stay focused on the project. This year however, there have not been many problems.

"There are so many good people in the department this year so it hasn't been a problem," Sides said. "We know we only have four weeks to put the piece together, so everyone takes it seriously, but we have fun too."

Students involved in Brown Bag follow grueling rehearsal schedules. Specific nights are reserved for specific rehearsals, Khobdeh said.

If a dancer or choreographer is involved in more than one piece, the performer can be at rehearsal as late as 11 p.m. five nights a week.

"This has been a real learning experience for all of us," said Sides. "It is really exciting to see the production coming together as a whole."