NANCY ROSSIGNOL
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

The Visual and Performing Arts Department hosted its tenth annual dance concert performance, “OffCentre,” May 5 – 6 in Arts 111. The free event provided an opportunity for dance students to share concepts through movement and to “open up expectations of what dance is to the public,” said Karen Schaffman, Associate Professor of Dance and Production Director.

The student-run stage production featured 11 works created by dance students and faculty. Participants chose their own genre, theme, costumes and music using elements and techniques learned in Choreography, Contemporary Technique, Global Modern Dance and Theatre Production and Design classes.

Genres included a mix of ballet, jazz, street, hip-hop and global modern dance, beginning with an emotive, contemporary piece called “Jar of Hearts.” Dancers performed to the disjointed rhythms of Beats Antique in “UNO,” a street dance with an urban flare.

An energetic performance to a medley of Western, Hawaiian and Latino music followed in “Jump! Move! Dance!” A group of students choreographed and performed a dramatic portrayal of a modern love triangle in “Bitter Sweet.”

Two impeccably timed, lively dances picked up the pace just before intermission in “Le Jazz Hot” and “Creature of the Night,” a sexy burlesque combination of works to music by Cher, Queen Latifah, Marilyn Monroe and Christina Aguilera.

The mood turned somber after intermission in “The Red C,” a work dedicated to thousands of dolphins slaughtered in Taiji, Japan, by a group of six choreographers and dancers. With a video running in the background from the 2009 documentary “The Cove,” dancers moved fluidly about the stage like a community of dolphins ending in agonizing death.

In “Tribute to Tagore , ” Dance 320 students performed pieces to a collection of poems by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Born in Calcutta, India, Tagore was the first Asian to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 as a poet, novelist, playwright and visual artist. Tagore challenged traditional Indian dances, according to the “OffCentre” program, by focusing on “naturalistic expression of human emotional experience.” In the first dance recognizing a collection of poems by Tagore, dancers moved around the stage with tea lights in their hands, forming two symmetrical circles center stage, then merging together in a spectacular natural light show. A traditional Indian harvest dance followed, inspired by Bengali folk music representing seasons and village life, including traditional hand movements such as the “bird” and the “locust,” dancer Chanel Bradley said.

Two groups choreographed and performed beautifully in “Reflection” and “Trouble is a Friend” to music by Lenka. An ensemble of five energetic hip hop numbers with music by Rihanna, Sucka Free CJ, Ke$ha, Usher, and Pink completed the evening in the crowd-pleasing finale “World War You.”

Photo courtesy of Nancy Rossignol