{"id":21215,"date":"2024-06-04T15:27:26","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T23:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=21215"},"modified":"2024-06-04T15:28:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T23:28:10","slug":"westerns-spring-dance-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/westerns-spring-dance-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"Western’s spring dance concert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by: Claire Phillips | Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

On May 9, 10 and 11, Western hosted its Spring Dance Concert in Rice Auditorium. Each choreographer, costume designer, lighting designer, professor and dancer brought their all to the concert.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show opened with a lively number, titled \u201cNot a Tango,\u201d choreographed by Les Watanabe, a professor of dance at Western. The dance was composed of four dancers: two wearing red dresses and two wearing black suits, preening for attention. The dynamics and expressions of each character made the audience laugh throughout the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tim Cowart, the department head of Western\u2019s Department of Theatre and Dance choreographed a meaningful piece, titled \u201cSlump.\u201d The dance engaged the audience right out of the gate with a projector screen depicting the busy, loud streets of a big city. One could observe the pressure of society weighing down on each dancer through their intricate mannerisms. Each was trying to make themselves stand out from the crowd; a futile attempt.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHold on\u2026,\u201d choreographed by graduating senior Alia Takashima, was a spiritual, grounding piece memorializing community and friendship. The dance featured incredible formations such as using the dancers\u2019 arms to look like tree branches in their green and brown costumes and holding each other up in lifts.<\/span><\/p>\n

A \u201cHunger Games\u201d themed piece, titled \u201cMEMENTO MORI,\u201d choreographed by Charlotte Hreha, was captivating and intense. The iconic whistle that sounded before the music even kicked in gave the audience a hint as to what was to come. The music also utilized the line \u201cenjoy the show\u201d from the arena in \u201cThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.\u201d An ear-piercing scream at the end of the performance left everyone speechless.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWabash 64130,\u201d choreographed by Winston Dynamite Brown, was a nostalgic performance based on Brown\u2019s mother, siblings and hometown, Kansas City. The dancers lined up and posed for a \u201cfamily photo\u201d partway through the dance, illustrating each family member and their unique personalities.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the intermission, \u201cMelt,\u201d choreographed by Valerie Bergman and Darryl Thomas, immersed the audience in an ever-shifting night sky, then an ocean and finally, a forest. A featured dancer donned a pair of pointe shoes, weaving between the other dancers. The choreographers stated that the dance was an \u201c…urgent cry to protect our climate and an homage to the beauty and wonder of our natural habitat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As a tribute to their grandmother, Manda Oliver choreographed \u201cAnnee des Marguerites,\u201d which translates to \u201cYear of the Daisies.\u201d The dance utilized flower props as a symbol of healing, along with beautiful green and purple costumes. Every dancer lifted each other up and made sure nobody was left behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCYCLICAL,\u201d choreographed by senior Madison Malveaux, began with no music, only the carefully composed rhythm of stomping feet. The piece had the perfect combination of chaos and order and conveyed how the two interacted with each other.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before the last dance, it was revealed that Cynthia Gutierrez-Garner, a beloved dance professor, will be leaving Western after 14 years. \u201cLas Caras Lindas\u201d featured eight dancers in bright, traditional dresses sitting around a table. Gutierrez-Garner said, \u201cThank you for sitting at the table of my pedagogy.\u201d It\u2019s safe to say that Gutierrez-Garner left her mark on all of Western.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every single dance was unique and stood out from one another. The crowd could never guess what was coming next and was entertained for the full two hours of the show. Thank you, Western Department of Theatre and Dance, for your incredible effort and continuous talent.<\/span><\/p>\n

10\/10.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":21216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3244,3250,3247,3241,3246,3242,3248,3245,1717,3249,3251,507,2107,3239,3252,1254,684,608,39,3240,3243],"class_list":["post-21215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ballad-of-songbirds-and-snakes","tag-ballet","tag-college-dance","tag-contemporary-dance","tag-cynthia-gutierrez-garner","tag-darryl-thomas","tag-hunger-games","tag-jazz-dance","tag-kansas-city","tag-les-watanabe","tag-modern-dance","tag-oregon","tag-pacific-northwest","tag-tango","tag-tim-cowart","tag-university","tag-western","tag-western-oregon-university","tag-wou","tag-wou-dance-department","tag-wou-department-of-theatre-and-dance"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}