Dancers in “1st of 3 in 17” smiled at the audience as they stood in a diagonal formation. Photo by Faith Delamarter.
SAMANTHA RITTENBERG | STAFF REPORTER | srittenberg@butler.edu
Butler Ballet presented its annual Midwinter Dances Feb. 12-16. Each performance was an hour and a half long and encompassed four dances, featuring contemporary ballet, neoclassical, jazz and modern. Midwinter is one of three mainstage productions that Butler Ballet performs. The show was held at the Schrott Center for the Arts.
The six performances were divided into two casts — program A and program B. Each program featured three unique performances, but both ended with the same breathtaking 25-minute piece.
Program B began with a jazz piece led by Professor Pratt, called “1st of 3 in 17”. The dancers wore cherry red unitards and danced barefoot across the stage to Mozart. The music had a light and airy feel to it that paired nicely with the choreography.
The second composition, “The Four Elements”, was a neoclassical piece choreographed by Professor Ramon Flowers. It embraced water, earth, wind and fire. A different dancer represented each element and wore flowing dresses in representative colors, while the 12 dancers in the ensemble wore long white dresses. Each element had an extended solo, and the ensemble had its own solo.
Senior dance performance major Julia Enwright discussed how Professor Flowers’ choreography evolved since last year’s Midwinter Dances.
“It is really exciting to see the professors push themselves to create new pieces, depending on what they [feel should be] in the dance world at the time,” Enwright said. “Last year, I was in Professor Flowers’ piece [and] it was jazzy with pop music, [while this year, the piece] is contemporary ballet on pointe. It is based on the four elements [and] it is interesting because [there is] strong, fierce fire versus me, ethereal and flowing air, and we also have water and earth.”
The third dance, “Kakovoulía”, took a sharp turn in tone. The music was dark and obscure, driven by violin. The choreography centered around the story of a society on the verge of collapsing and consisted of sharp, jagged movements.
Each performance was directed by a different faculty member with “Cloven Kingdom” done by a guest. The professors chose to either choreograph a new dance or set a piece of pre-existing choreography in their repertoire.
The finale’s world-renowned choreography was originally created by choreographer Paul Taylor. “Cloven Kingdom” was first performed by the Paul Taylor Dance Company in 1976. Susan McGuire — a former dance professor at Butler — returned to campus to stage this year’s guest piece.
Junior arts administration major Gabby Mock discussed what made Cloven Kingdom such an enthralling piece.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Mock said. “Especially from a dancer’s perspective, it is a truly imaginative [and] very animalistic, but also [a] graceful piece. It is two-sided in that way [and] it will be really special for audiences to get to experience that.”
The costumes were an essential part of this piece, with male dancers dressed in tuxedos and female dancers adorned in pastel dresses. Some of the female ballerinas also wore props on their heads, such as headpieces with mirrored surfaces. This touch was in the original version of “Cloven Kingdom”, and they were used to include the audience in the show through their reflections.
Junior dance performance major Grace Peeples mentioned one of her favorite aspects of performing in Midwinter Dances.
“I love the moment when you can lose yourself in the character you are supposed to play,” Peeples said. “You do not have to think about what you are doing, and it comes out even better than before because now you are becoming the [character] rather than just going through the motions.”
Butler Ballet’s next show is the ballet “Sleeping Beauty”, which is set to take place April 18-19 at Clowes Memorial Hall.
The Collegian was only able to report on the performances in the Midwinter Dances Program B. For information about Program A, visit the Butler Arts and Events Center website.
