Graduate dance students explore body movement, performance space
MFA candidates in choreography Kristianne Salcines and Levi Gonzalez present in-progress thesis works in the Kaufman Hall Dance Theater.
"Dancers will embody divining rods, gasp for air and groove like they’re in a nightclub in “glory us weirdos.”
These dance moves are part of Friday’s show, which will present graduate dance students Kristianne Salcines and Levi Gonzalez’s in-progress thesis works. “glory us weirdos” consists of two 25-minute pieces that aim to explore how the dancing body can exhibit specific concepts through movement and the nontraditional use of performance space, Salcines said.
While both Salcines’ and Gonzalez’s pieces are unfinished, Salcines said the performance is an integral part of how the pair will approach their thesis projects in the future.
“I’m currently the choreographer and a dancer in my own piece, so it’s hard for me to see what my piece is doing,” they said. “I just need to know that people are experiencing something that my collaborators and I have created together.”
Salcines said they wanted their work, “Fisted by the Universe,” to promote visibility for queer dancers of color and give them an opportunity to bring their emotions and experience into the choreography. They were inspired to create a piece that celebrates its dancers more than it emphasizes aesthetic, Salcines said.
“The dancers are treated like they’re just a vessel with no feelings who have to mask everything for the sake (of) performance,” Salcines said. “I want to use the piece to challenge this practice and empower the dancing body through autonomy.”
In the last part of Salcines’ work, dancers celebrate themselves on a T-shaped runway. Randy Reyes, one of Salcines’ collaborators, said they tend to highlight their body in the piece, touching the skin and layers of clothes around their body’s fleshy and muscular parts. Reyes said being involved in the unfinished work also helped them understand Salcines’ choreographic process and appreciate the process of producing a thesis regardless of completeness.
“I’m excited for the showing but I look most forward to the moments where we can discuss how we’re doing and build from that,” Reyes said.
Feedback between collaborators is important to developing the piece, Salcines said, so they hope their work encourages people to think for themselves and ask questions about the piece’s meaning."— Alexandra Del Rosario, Feb. 28, 2018
This post is an excerpt, read the full article at the Daily Bruin website.
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