When Sydney Sanders visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, she stood in front of “Almond Blossom” for nearly 20 minutes. She was captivated by the texture, the colors and the awkward beauty of the painting.
“It was just kind of this in awe moment,” Sanders said.
On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Sanders, a senior studying dance, will perform a work inspired by the famous painting. Her self-choreographed dance, “Open Air,” will be presented as a part of the Fall Senior Dance Concert.
The concert will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. in the Shirley Wimmer Dance Theater. The 13-person senior class will be split in half. Six students will present solo performances and seven will present group performances. One half will perform at 7 p.m. and the other will perform at 9 p.m. Each night the two halves will switch performance times.
The event is the culmination of the seniors’ capstone class. Most began work in the first week of the semester.
Sanders’ solo performance will connect the image of the tree to the human body.
“I really wanted to embody the characteristics of the tree, the strength in the roots and the trunk but also the fragility in the flowers that can bud,” she said. “But also how it can be kind of ugly but in the most beautiful way.”
It’s about being one with the Earth, Sanders said.
For Olivia Rachael Cancelli, the choreography process started with introspection.
Cancelli’s self-choreographed solo, “Love You, Possess Me,” is inspired by the “daily turmoil” of mental illness.
“I was really inspired by my mental health,” Cancelli said.
A friend’s recent diagnosis of bipolar disorder also influenced Cancelli’s choice.
Cancelli said she found a physical way to embody her own anxiety and depression, creating a corporeal depiction of her emotions. The choreography of the piece uses muscular tension to mimic the tight, aggravating feeling of mental illness, Cancelli said.
Though her work often draws from her personal experience, she said she has never gotten this personal in her dance. The thought of leaving one’s emotions on the stage can be uncomfortable. And she said it’s been a nerve-wracking process.
“The reality that this is being shown to hundreds of people … in order to do that, I need to be vulnerable,” Cancelli said.
Lexie Lombardi, a senior studying dance, will also present her emotions through her work. But for Lombardi, that work will be a group piece. Her personal experience will be portrayed by seven dancers.
Lombardi choreographed “Shedding” to explore her experiences with illness. For the first time, she said she drew inspiration from her inner feelings and how she is affected by them.
“It turned kind of into an organized chaos,” Lombardi said.
She said the process required some “soul searching.”
“I kind of challenged myself,” Lombardi said.
At the beginning of the rehearsal process, Lombardi said she had a long talk with her dancers about the meaning of the piece. Though the dancers can’t understand her thoughts on every level, Lombardi said they can relate them to something in their own lives.
“Everyone has a different experience,” she said.
Those different experiences led to the dancers being able to work off of each other, she said.
Choreographing a group added different elements to Lombardi’s job. Group performances require a choreographer to conduct auditions, coordinate schedules and lead rehearsals. They also add an element of the unknown.
“You know yourself, what you enjoy to do, what you like to do,” she said.
But at the beginning, Lombardi had no idea about the abilities of her mostly freshman group. Lombardi spent time in the first rehearsals getting to know the dancers and how they move.
“Every single rehearsal is a new experience,” she said.
The seniors look forward to ending the first-half of their senior year with the performances they have been working on all semester.
Cancelli said she’s been awaiting this concert since she was a freshman.
A second and final senior concert will be held at the end of Spring Semester.
“I plan to spend the entire winter break finding inspiration,” Cancelli said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”
