Students in Butler University’s dance program will have their school experiences come full-circle with their senior dance productions.
These productions represent the culmination of their dance education, as they are able to create and display their own ideas and talents.
At first, this was a daunting task for senior Kristi Liu until she stumbled across an inspirational Chinese poem.
“‘Visions and Interpretations’ by Li-Young Lee is about a son whose father has passed away, who visits his grave every day and envisions him there with him,” Liu said.
She brought it to life with a male and female duet. It is a short but meaningful piece.
Senior Morgan Sicklick started dancing when she was three years old but didn’t realize she wanted to dance professionally until late high school.
“I was in this one performance that felt professional, which made me realize what a career in dance could be like,” Sicklick said. “I was doing business in high school and realized that I probably didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I wanted to dance and have lots of fun.”
Sicklick choreographed a piece called “In the Moment of Not Knowing,” with music by Daniel Kobialka.
This piece is eight minutes long and will feature eight dancers.
“I started to work on it last summer,” Sicklick said. “I did a lot of research and created movement sequences and movement vocabulary. I started with an image and tried different ideas to see what worked.
“The piece evolved from the concept of breaking through boundaries into the idea of belonging.”
In order to show boundaries breaking, Sicklick is evoking the image of an eruv. An eruv is an enclosure in which Orthodox Jews are able to transfer objects on the Sabbath.
Since Orthodox Jews live in such a restricted community, Sicklick chose this image to portray the breaking of boundaries that she described.
Senior Lauren Reed, unlike Liu and Sicklick, started dancing much later, when she was 14.
She auditioned at Butler because “I didn’t know what else I wanted to do after high school.”
“I still wanted to dance, so I auditioned and got in,” Reed said.
Reed choreographed two pieces. One is called “The Portraits” with music from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” The second is called “We Can See It” and is made up of a compilation of songs by Sigur Rós.
“The Portraits” features 13 dancers, and “We Can See It” features three.
“During the first three or four weeks of choreography class, we had to do a lot of soul searching,” Reed said. “They are dark, introspective pieces. Carmina is energetic and funny. I wanted to do something about conflict but framed in a goofy and absurd way.
“It was a really cool experience to work with really talented and receptive dancers.”
The productions will take place on Thursday and Friday, at 7:30 p.m. in Lilly Hall 310.
Photo by Gerald Vazquez
