UVU Tied Together: A Tapestry of Dance
Tied Together: a Tapestry of Dance was the sensational performance held by the UVU dance companies and classes on February 19-20th of this year. Each dance had something new to offer; a new perspective, a new insight, a new culture and all of them culminated to truly render something that blew away the audiences in a gorgeously woven tapestry of dance.
The stage opened on Jazzy Bad performed by the fabulous tour team. Scarlet dresses and classy tuxedos came together, pairing off in dulcet duos as the dancers’ hips swayed sassily. Whirling skirts gave way to an elegant but modern twist on a style of music so culturally rich it made you want to get up and join them on stage. With wide sweeping motions and swift twirling, the dancers entranced their audience.
The dance Coincidences followed the first and darkness gave way to a shadow of gray where a soloist captured the attention of the audience. Jerking movements and quick twirls gave way to the entrance of the rest of the dancing ensemble. The motions were quick and yet stealthy. The movements of each, whether it was still or abrupt, affected the dancers around them. The costumes are more muted in color and more along the lines of something peasants might wear in the medieval era. The whole dance almost seemed like a depiction of human controversy. The stage remained dark sometimes getting brighter into a cape of twilight and other times darkening to shades of midnight. At times the dancers seemed to be in unison and other times they seemed to all be in mayhem; sometimes violent and sometimes serene. The tribulation and tumult of the dance reminded those watching of the trials of humanity.
The next dance opened on pale pink tones of light as the Ballroom Dance tour team performed Rise, which evoked the sensations of beautiful intimate romance. The lifts combined with the spins made you feel as though you were being swept right off your feet with the dancers. Each motion caused a run of adrenaline to course through the audience. Every movement was astounding in its depiction of grace and the pinnacle of elegance.
The ballet dancers took the stage next in their performance Caravanserai. The dancers came out from the dark and shards of light cast down upon the stage like sunlight through leaves. They fell out as waves of the ocean elegant and slow, before they rose in unison and moved in sweeping soft motions like delicate feathers, before finding a bright light and reaching forward as if trying to grasp the light and then being promptly repelled by it. They slowly came back down in a retreating wave. They repeat the motion as though they are water in the ocean compelled by rhythm and routine before swirling slowly away from the portion of the stage that served as their shore. They split into ensembles taking on different roles moving slowly and delicately. They swirled and tumbled as leaves and water over the stage they moved to a distant drummer’s beat. They expanded their presence on the stage and then reunited in the center before swaying as willows in the wind. The meaning of the title of this piece is a traveler’s inn, each motion depicted that of a nomadic nature, oceans which come and go and leaves which tumble every which direction letting the wind of fate sweep them where they may.
UVU’s proud ballroom dance company strutted onto the stage next performing Timbale. Rapid motions instantly captivated the audience as the men moved sharply and the women moved with passion, fire skirts of yellow and green flaring up around them like fire. The flirty nature of the dance was riveting the flare to each motion bewitching those watching.
The final dance tied all the vibrant threads of before into a poetic ending with the Synergy Dance Company’s performance of Remnants. The stage, with a dagger of orange splashed over the stage, lit to reveal a lone dancer. More dancers joined her, all in dresses of vibrant delicious gold as though the group were the rays of the sun they sway and reach for the sky and then they began to sway more and more until they became a whirl pool of yellow. Just before once again reaching up to the sky and further out as they leapt and spun and reached spreading and enclosing as a group, adding to the illusion of a sunrise. Beams of light occasionally bursting forth or retreating back. Until the other dancers vanished leaving one solo dancer then a second joined her side each time the group moved another dancer joined the first the more abrupt and sharp motions depicting a more busy afternoon perhaps. The motions only increased in intensity and brightness. Finally the motions started moving a little more soft and slow before the group unified once more and the sporadic motions began to come to a mellifluous and gentle close. The bright splash of orange on the stage began to wane to pale pinks and deep purples and crisp blues as a sunset came upon the scene. It ended with a final solo dancer guiding the group against a crimson sky. Once again the circle reunited and as the sunshine swayed into nothing the world closed into serenity. The dancers dissipated as the fragile rays of the sun gave way to the night.
This gorgeous performance left all who attended breathless and on the edge of their seats. They all dispersed into the night like those rays of sunlight the final dancers represented. All who attended were instilled with a sense of wonder and the enchanting nature of the dances left their mark on all who attended.