Dance Concert Analysis

Over Halloween weekend, Dance TCU in concert, performed at Ed Landreth Hall on the TCU campus, was a mid term showcase performed by the students in the TCU School for Classical and Contemporary Dance. The overall mood was very professional. These college level dancers performed various pieces from Giselle to video edited versions of dance to contemporary dances inspired by swing dancing. Each piece was unique and whether the style was classical or contemporary, the execution was very good. The quality of the performance was spectacular and showed all the work that everyone involved in the production has put out to perfect all the aspects of the show come together. While there were some minor technique errors, the staging, costume design, lighting,

Alex Karigan Farrior choreographed, filmed, and edited the material for this piece. He also was responsible for the costume design and execution as well as the lighting. A surprising aspect of this piece is that it was a video. The music was composed by Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra, Ornella Vanoni, Rosemary Clooney, Piero Umiliani, Édith Piaf and Louis Armstrong. The mood of this piece started out almost comical with the expressions of the faces and the use of frames to use three different frames and making one face from three persons smaller section of his or her face. The overall mood seemed energetic and One part that I enjoyed was when it was a frame of one person’s face and the other two people would be touching the face. This piece was unlike anything I had seen before at a dance concert. Eventually the audience is able to see bigger parts or even the full body of each dancer performing steps and the directed choreography. The technique from these the parts when dancing was more visible seemed very good. The technique and execution of the choreography was hard to notice due to the transitions between multiple frames and I thought that the editing of the video was genius and really made the audience pay attention to what was going on all over the screen. Even though it was a video that was spliced and edit until the final product was achieved, it was still a very interesting and powerful

This piece was based slightly on swing dancing as apparent in the costumes and choreography. The choreographer of this was Joshua L. Peugh. The composers of the music used are Tommy Duncan, Dorothy Fields, Jimmy McHugh, and Bob Wills. My favorite part of the piece was when one of the performers walked across the stage carrying a cactus that would get bigger each time she walked across the stage. This both helped separate each small dance from each other but also added a sense of comedy and a familiar transition throughout the piece for the audience. The performer did this five times and by the final entrance the cactus was easily clearing her head. I liked how this piece from group dances to couple dances and flowed very well. The overall mood of this dance was lively and fun. Another moment that stood out was when the strings of lights came out at the final of the piece. This added a touch of warmth and added to the swing, country feel of the dance. Because I am classically trained in ballet, I appreciate turn out and piles between steps; however, I thought that this piece successfully told a story. It seemed very well rehearsed and the effort put in showed. The dancers portrayed the emotions of the piece as well. I especially thought the costumes were very fitting to the theme as well as the