Twenty-six students gracefully glided their way across the stage as they made split-second decisions on how to dance to improvised music and lights.
Students in an Ohio University dance improvisation class were featured in the first on-campus Improvisational Performance Ensemble held Friday.
The performance also included a piece by the improvisational group Like You Mean It, which consists of Noelle Chun, Annie Kloppenberg and Adriana Durant, a professor of dance at OU. John Bohuslawsky and Dorian S. Ham improvised lights and sound.
Like You Mean It already had planned to perform when Durant decided to incorporate her students to allow them to experience firsthand the techniques that were taught in class, said Lindsay Calvert, a senior studying dance.
One of the main points our professor tries to get to us is that we're not just noodling around and we're not just moving how our body wants to move
Calvert said. There is an element of what you're body wants to do but at the same time you're trying to build a dialogue with other dancers through movement.
Although the students were allowed to work together in classes preceding the ensemble, they didn't actually rehearse. Durant had the students create a wish list of things they would like to incorporate into their performances, said Ryan Dick, a senior studying dance.
It allows you to think about what you want to happen without forcing it Dick said.
The improvised lights and music added another challenge for the dancers, said Morgan Chambers, a senior studying dance.
The music does influence the way you dance unless you're trying to fight against it. It is almost second nature Chambers said.
Dance improvisation is something that helps students understand themselves as dancers and learn to interact with other dancers, Calvert said.
The beauty of having a successful improvisational piece is that it looks like a choreographed piece
she said.
ah896106@ohiou.edu
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Culture
Anna Hartenbach
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Noelle Chun, left, and Professor Adriana Durant dance wildly during the Improvisational Performance Ensemble
