Evenings of Dance 2024

Daniel Ikpeama Author

11/26/2024 Added

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Evenings of Dance performance. April 12, 2024. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Link to program: https://uofnelincoln.sharepoint.com/sites/UNL-GlennKorffSchoolofMusic/GKSOM%20Events/Forms/AllItems.aspx?id=%2Fsites%2FUNL%2DGlennKorffSchoolofMusic%2FGKSOM%20Events%2FAcademic%20Events%2FFA23%2DSP24%20AY%2FCOE%2F041124%20Evenings%20of%20Dance%2F041124%20Evenings%20of%20Dance%2DFINAL%2Epdf&parent=%2Fsites%2FUNL%2DGlennKorffSchoolofMusic%2FGKSOM%20Events%2FAcademic%20Events%2FFA23%2DSP24%20AY%2FCOE%2F041124%20Evenings%20of%20Dance&p=true&ga=1. Filmed by TODB Productions-Capture Creativity (https://todbproductions.com/).

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[00:00:00.740]Evenings of Dance is the culmination of our whole year of classes and performances.
[00:00:07.080]Choreographing has been a really big passion of mine, so yeah, getting to explore that in college has been really great.
[00:00:12.300]I mean, this has kind of always been part of my life.
[00:00:15.920]That's kind of my favorite part because it's when everyone has already put something, like, from themselves,
[00:00:22.400]and I can see, like, the connections between them. That's kind of, like, what I enjoy the most.
[00:00:28.020]So the three student pieces that we selected by Mariela Hernandez, Abby Brady, and Katie Charest
[00:00:43.640]were taken from the dance composition class, which ended in December.
[00:00:48.580]And at the end of that class, we have a fully produced concert in the Howell Theater in the Temple Building.
[00:00:55.980]And from there, the faculty all
[00:00:58.000]sort of get together and decide which pieces we think have the most resonance.
[00:01:02.100]Like, they're the most complete.
[00:01:04.180]We can see sort of the progression of not only the final product, but the work that went into it.
[00:01:09.560]We chose the three pieces that we felt represented the dance program in kind of its breadth.
[00:01:16.040]Abby and Katie's pieces were all very, were kind of dancey and technical
[00:01:21.620]and had that kind of a, just a dance vibe, which sounds so vague,
[00:01:26.440]but it really is a beautiful vibe that they had.
[00:01:29.080]And Mariela's piece was very process-oriented.
[00:01:32.780]It wasn't a piece that you would think like, oh, this is a dancey piece.
[00:01:37.020]This is a piece that had people drawn in, and it was emotional,
[00:01:40.880]and it was sort of progressing in a way that was a little unusual.
[00:01:44.860]And so we just felt we wanted to have an example of that kind of work in our concert.
[00:01:50.320]Well, I'm a process person based in the arts,
[00:01:56.300]so for me, the priority is in the process.
[00:01:58.760]I believe that the transformation, the learning,
[00:02:01.340]the biggest things happen during the creative process.
[00:02:05.060]So for me, I spend most of my time focused on that.
[00:02:09.140]And for this piece in particular, our where,
[00:02:12.300]everything started with a question, and the question was, where is home?
[00:02:16.900]So since we have like 11 dancers at the beginning,
[00:02:20.180]I wanted to explore what does that mean for them?
[00:02:23.920]What was the meaning of home?
[00:02:25.880]That was like the first layer.
[00:02:28.340]In the second layer, we start to find common themes or topics or divergence about it.
[00:02:34.560]And then we start to do embodiment of those concepts.
[00:02:38.900]So I wanted to do something that really encapsulated my experience
[00:02:43.180]throughout my four years here in Nebraska.
[00:02:44.980]And I felt like I've always experienced struggling a lot of different things
[00:02:48.980]and not knowing how to prioritize just one thing.
[00:02:51.440]So I wanted to do a piece that felt true to that.
[00:02:54.660]So I called it Chasing the Present
[00:02:55.860]to symbolize not looking back at what I've done in the past
[00:02:59.220]and not getting too stuck in what I'm going to do in the future,
[00:03:01.900]but enjoying the right now so that it doesn't pass me by.
[00:03:04.560]It's kind of the theme of this year.
[00:03:06.420]But yeah, I gleaned a lot from my dancers and their experiences too
[00:03:09.720]about how they're trying to stay in the moment
[00:03:11.940]and how they're trying to prioritize living in right now.
[00:03:14.860]So my piece was called It Happened to You.
[00:03:18.400]And the basic gist of it is it's about grief.
[00:03:23.340]It's just kind of a look at the process.
[00:03:25.840]of grief
[00:03:26.380]and how sometimes you can't tell someone's grieving.
[00:03:30.000]And we all grieve in different ways, and that's okay.
[00:03:32.660]My piece has three different sets of music in it.
[00:03:36.960]So it starts with these church bells,
[00:03:40.840]and I just kind of felt like it was that feeling of it dawning on you almost.
[00:03:45.660]And there's a motif of heel drops throughout the whole thing.
[00:03:49.460]And it's the same dancer that starts the heel drops, does them in the middle,
[00:03:55.820]and ends with the heel drops alone on stage.
[00:03:59.200]Grief can surprise you.
[00:04:00.760]And like I said, it doesn't look the same for anyone.
[00:04:02.900]So it just kind of shows the different emotions that can come with it
[00:04:06.620]and how it can be so different.
[00:04:08.380]And then it kind of concludes with the same church bells and heel drops,
[00:04:12.660]kind of like a full circle moment and that you're progressing on with it.
[00:04:17.980]So it's definitely different between studio.
[00:04:25.800]And UNL is just a different process, different type of dance.
[00:04:31.720]I still choreograph for my studio now.
[00:04:34.260]And that's more, I feel like, focused on fitting it in two minutes.
[00:04:39.660]There's not a lot of, especially since I'm from Kansas,
[00:04:43.720]so I go and set these pieces and then come back to Nebraska
[00:04:48.140]and I don't work with them.
[00:04:49.360]Another teacher does.
[00:04:50.360]So it's less about kind of formulating the creative process
[00:04:55.780]and creating something over time
[00:04:58.800]and more about just putting the competition piece together,
[00:05:02.200]putting in the tricks, getting all that in there,
[00:05:05.900]bing, bang, boom, done.
[00:05:07.260]I've been dancing since I was two.
[00:05:09.360]I've been choreographing since probably my junior year of high school
[00:05:13.660]and I'm a senior in college now, so I spend a bit of time.
[00:05:16.780]I think in high school it was more, I did more competitive dance,
[00:05:20.060]so it was more centered around tricks and skills and things like that
[00:05:23.680]and less of the meaning, more of,
[00:05:25.880]what I could convey with those things.
[00:05:27.800]And now in college I look a lot more at how I can convey my purpose
[00:05:32.600]and what I want the audience to feel, so I don't spell it out for them.
[00:05:37.360]I think I've grown a lot in leaning on my dancers.
[00:05:39.900]I think I used to think that I had to come all prepared
[00:05:42.420]and have everything all mapped out,
[00:05:44.640]but I feel I do my best work when I kind of have a concept or an idea
[00:05:48.520]and then I kind of put it on them and see how they feel with it.
[00:05:51.500]When everyone has already put something from themselves,
[00:05:55.740]and I can see the connections between them,
[00:05:58.820]that's kind of what I enjoy the most.
[00:06:01.160]I guess that I have this tendency to, at the end, create a narrative,
[00:06:05.060]even though that was my main complaint when I was studying theater.
[00:06:08.480]I was like, I hate lineal storytelling, I don't like it, let's break it.
[00:06:14.340]And then when I'm building choreography,
[00:06:17.040]I found myself trying to connect narratives or just one
[00:06:22.440]to make some sense of everything that is happening
[00:06:25.720]I studied theater when I was in Mexico.
[00:06:28.760]So when I graduated as a stage director,
[00:06:33.560]so when we envision like a proposal,
[00:06:35.860]we have to present it complete with everything,
[00:06:38.660]even with the design for the lighting and for everything, right?
[00:06:42.740]So when the first time that I was working here with someone,
[00:06:45.940]I was like, but the concept, but and then we were like, hey, hold on.
[00:06:50.960]Like they this is their thing.
[00:06:53.080]They have to develop the concept.
[00:06:54.740]And I was like,
[00:06:55.700]what? But I'm directing this piece.
[00:06:58.700]So I don't know.
[00:06:59.620]I think for this second time,
[00:07:02.120]I feel more confident like about the collaboration
[00:07:05.620]and I learn how to delegate that part to the lighting
[00:07:10.300]designer. One of the things I really love about being part of a fine and performing arts college
[00:07:15.660]is that I have colleagues in music and theater and art, of course. And for the last, I can't
[00:07:21.560]even remember how many years, we've had the opportunity to collaborate in particular with
[00:07:26.880]the lighting design faculty, Michelle Harvey and her students. You know, in dance, we don't often
[00:07:32.180]have like set design or things like that. The lights are really what enhance the watching of
[00:07:39.780]the bodies in space. And Michelle's students are really on board. This year, for the first time,
[00:07:45.280]they really managed the entire lighting process. They went into the Lied Center, they set the grid,
[00:07:51.420]which is how the lights are going to look for the entire run of the show. And then various students
[00:07:56.840]worked with other students or other guest artists to create the lighting design for the individual
[00:08:02.140]pieces. I mean, at my studio back home growing up, it was kind of just like you had the dance
[00:08:08.140]and you went to competition.
[00:08:09.260]And there's lights on the stage and music, but there was kind of no really like collaboration.
[00:08:13.880]And like sometimes they put like fun lights for recital, but it was never a collaborative
[00:08:19.740]effort, I guess.
[00:08:20.660]They sometimes ask you what color you wanted.
[00:08:24.020]But here it's really unique.
[00:08:28.680]I feel like you kind of get a taste of what it's like to be in a professional setting.
[00:08:34.940]It's been really cool.
[00:08:36.620]Like I said, I choreographed.
[00:08:38.980]a lot growing up, but we didn't have a lot of lighting designers.
[00:08:42.180]It was kind of just the blatant one light.
[00:08:44.440]But yeah, working with a lighting designer was really cool because I would just kind of give them what my vision was,
[00:08:50.220]show them the piece, and then they just kind of ran with it and made it just even more beautiful.
[00:08:54.060]So getting to see those the first time and see my piece in that new light was really beautiful and striking.
[00:09:00.660]I had no notes pretty much every time.
[00:09:02.780]I just feel like dance is my area, and then I give them my piece of that, and then they take it.
[00:09:08.700]And just enhance it.
[00:09:09.700]Throughout the year for our dance composition class, we meet with our lighting designers
[00:09:14.580]and kind of go over our feel for the piece.
[00:09:18.380]My lighting designer this year was amazing, Kenzie, shout out.
[00:09:23.480]She had like a whole mood board for me and was like, "This is what I'm feeling for your piece.
[00:09:28.620]Yes, no, do you like it?"
[00:09:30.480]And I was like, "It's great."
[00:09:32.560]We kind of had this collaborative conversation, and I was like, "It's kind of fun because you get to choreograph
[00:09:38.420]with lighting in mind."
[00:09:40.480]And there were some parts where I was like, "This is what I want.
[00:09:42.600]I want a spotlight here."
[00:09:44.560]And it shifts your whole piece.
[00:09:46.560]I've seen my piece performed, no lighting.
[00:09:49.000]I've seen my piece performed on a stage and here.
[00:09:52.740]So it's kind of interesting how that transforms a piece in a way.
[00:09:56.980]And I feel like it just adds such a beautiful element that you don't exactly get when it's
[00:10:03.160]just regular lighting.
[00:10:04.580]Definitely, I feel with more confidence to say,
[00:10:08.140]I consider, we need less in here."
[00:10:12.280]Or to ask, "Why are you proposing this instead of a different thing?"
[00:10:17.120]For me, this part about meaning, meaning of each detail that is on the stage matters.
[00:10:23.960]And the same goes for the lighting.
[00:10:25.520]It's not only about being able to see the performers, but also what is the narrative
[00:10:30.680]that we are presented if we have one.
[00:10:33.620]I think that having the opportunity to be produced,
[00:10:37.860]to make their work for this concert, to go through the whole rehearsal process, to deal
[00:10:41.380]with the photographers.
[00:10:42.380]I mean, there's so many facets.
[00:10:44.480]I think it really helps them to envision a life in dance and also be successful at a
[00:10:50.920]life outside of dance if that's where their passions take them.
[00:10:54.280]I feel like choreography just in general kind of gives me a way to like a frame to see the
[00:11:00.340]world that's very different and very unique to dancers, I think.
[00:11:05.620]Because you're just looking not at the full picture.
[00:11:07.580]itself always, but how the pieces all come together to make it that
[00:11:11.800]picture and what their role is in that.
[00:11:14.480]So I think it helps me navigate what my role is in whatever field I'm going into going
[00:11:19.240]forward, and what part I play in my friendships and my relationships and work and things like
[00:11:25.420]that.
[00:11:26.900]It develops a sense of responsibility, but also a sense of belonging, me crying.
[00:11:34.300]Yeah.
[00:11:35.300]I mean.
[00:11:37.300]When we start to prepare projects for a student dance project, we are mostly focused on defining
[00:11:46.080]what are we doing, right?
[00:11:47.980]But the more time that you spend with the people, the stronger that the community bonding
[00:11:53.820]became.
[00:11:55.040]And I feel that having this opportunity to move a piece forward is an opportunity to
[00:11:59.020]meet the people in a better way that we usually don't have because we are running from one
[00:12:04.820]place to another.
[00:12:07.020]And something that I am really grateful for is having that extra time to meet the people
[00:12:13.640]who I'm working with.
[00:12:15.620]And it also helped me to explore with more confidence because everyone started to propose
[00:12:24.400]things that also they want to do and that give me life.
[00:12:28.520]It's like, yes, we're going into the correct direction.
[00:12:31.480]So I feel we gain time.
[00:12:36.740]We gain space and that's something that we cannot change for anything else, I guess.
[00:12:44.860]I've met a community of people that love and support me, which I think is so big in college.
[00:12:50.500]And you need that, especially being out of state.
[00:12:53.260]I don't know a lot of people.
[00:12:55.200]I didn't know a lot of people here coming here.
[00:12:58.020]So finding that community has been so important.
[00:13:01.640]All of my dancers were really close to my piece, so it was kind of like one last time
[00:13:06.460]to all dance together.
[00:13:08.180]So I was like, just go out there, do it for yourself.
[00:13:10.380]It was almost like in that moment they were grieving the loss of the seniors leaving them
[00:13:15.780]because it's just kind of a sad time of year that all of our friends are leaving.
[00:13:19.900]So I was like, go out there, do it for yourself.
[00:13:23.700]Don't worry about the audience, people adjudicating you.
[00:13:28.400]Just go out there and feel the peace.
[00:13:31.560]But I know dance will always be part of my life, no matter if I'm teaching.
[00:13:36.180]choreographing, owning a studio, whatever.
[00:13:39.340]So I definitely plan to always keep it in my life.
[00:13:44.300]There is nothing really more delicious than seeing the Evenings of Dance produced, seeing
[00:13:49.260]everybody leaving the whole, all of themselves on that dance floor for the last audience
[00:13:56.120]who sees the show.
[00:13:57.640]And it was a great year this year.
[00:14:00.320]Next year is going to be a great year again.
[00:14:01.920]And I'm just so thrilled that our students have the opportunity to be in
[00:14:05.900]Evenings of Dance every single year.
[00:14:07.700]♪ ♪
[00:14:09.840]♪ ♪
[00:14:11.500]♪ ♪
[00:14:13.500]♪ ♪
[00:14:13.500]♪ ♪
[00:14:15.500]♪ ♪
[00:14:17.500]♪ ♪
[00:14:19.560]♪ ♪

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Evenings of Dance 2024

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