College students often face the challenge of sacrificing their interests in order to become successful in a specialized field, but one Ohio University senior has found a way to incorporate two loves into one career.
Elizabeth Atwell, a BFA acting major, combines her long history with dance into her current pursuits in the School of Theater to be a movement-based performer.
She began dancing with the Parkersburg-based Schrader Youth Ballet at the age of 5 and continued dancing at the school throughout high school. During her junior year of high school she studied with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre until she developed an injury that is like Carpal Tunnel but it's in your shins.
This injury proved to be a turning point for Atwell. She was not willing to sacrifice her other interests for long hours at ballet practice.
It sort of changed my perspective on things
she said.
Atwell, a native of Vienna, W. Va, was in a community theater production of Oklahoma! the summer following her senior year of high school which, was a bridge into theater.
While at OU she performed in Top Girls and is currently involved in a black-light theater workshop and a lab show opening this weekend titled Small Craft Warnings.
David Jordan, a third year graduate student in the directing program, is in charge of the workshop and said he picked Atwell for the project.
(Atwell) is working in a way that is unlike most of the conventional theater practice in North America he said.
The black-light workshop is based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche, he said. It uses the original story as an inspiration for a completely different theatrical form
with the main focus on props and imagery rather than plot.
In Small Craft Warnings
a play by Tennessee Williams, she plays Violet, who she described as a hustler and a vagabond.
Atwell said this is a realism project, but she has found a way to incorporate motion in a natural way.
I've found ways to apply movement and physicality to her
she said.
Lady Nijo, one of two characters she portrayed in Top Girls was oriented to a stylized type of movement. In the play, Atwell wore a kimono and said the character's fan illustrated what she had to say.
Her fan (was) an extension of herself
she said.
OU Assistant Professor of Theater and acting teacher Shelley Delaney directed Atwell in Top Girls
and said one reason she cast her as Lady Nijo was her dance background. She knew she would be able to find the heart and the external shape of this character. Delaney also worked with Atwell in classes and said she takes direction beautifully and is just great to work with.
In addition to her theater pursuits, Atwell also has kept ties to dance. During Winter Break she performed the role of hostess in Christmas
the Ballet with the Schrader Youth Ballet Company. The performances were during Thanksgiving weekend at Parkersburg's Smoot Theatre, and included The Nutcracker - Clara's Dream. It is an annual event and where former students are invited back to perform in the ballets.
Atwell plans on graduating this spring and is considering teaching dance at a fine arts camp this summer and is hoping to find acting jobs through auditions. She hopes to combine puppetry, dance, music and acting into one form of performance.
She feels it makes sense that she is applying body and movement to what she is doing.
I sort of feel like I've taken this journey away from dance to just come back to it in this very physical way
she said.
