The Journal

Issue date: 3/8/07 Section: LifeStyle

Media Credit: Ashley Gieseking Junior biology major Halley Ketchum hangs in a hammock as part of the piece "Connections" during a rehearsal March 3 for the Webster University Dance Ensemble Spring Concert, which will be performed March 8 through 11.

Media Credit: Ashley Gieseking Junior Eve Mason and senior Dina Ballard perform the piece "In Two-Fold" during a March 3 rehearsal in the dance studio. The piece will be performed in the Webster University Dance Ensemble spring concert, which will be performed March 8 through 11 in the Browning Mainstage of the Loretto-Hilton Center.

Earth meets sky in the Webster University Dance Ensemble's upcoming spring concert. The concert will feature nine works, including two aerial pieces by Panamanian choreographer Monica Newsam, a first-time guest to Webster.


Aerial dance utilizes specialty apparatuses called silks, which allow dancers to explore space in a fully three-dimensional way. Dancers climb the silks and perform a variety of tricks similar to those of a trapeze artist. The show incorporates two vertical silks and a horizontal hammock that hangs in between. The dancers flip, climb, twist and suspend themselves in the fabric to give the appearance of floating


Six students will perform in the piece entitled "Connections," which portrays the link between earth and sky, Newsam said.


"Most of the piece I'm presenting is aerial dance, where I'm using pieces of fabric, also called tissues or silks,Newsam said. "They're hanging from the air and the dancers do all these figures and shapes in the air,"

The program brings a variety of genres to the stage, including tap, ballet and pointe, modern, dance theater and contemporary. However, this is the first experience many of the dancers have had with aerial work.


"Learning was rough in the beginning and rough on your body," said Halley Ketchum, a junior biology major. "None of us had done anything like this before, so it was just a matter of strengthening ourselves and getting better."


The dancers were trained close to the ground to eliminate the fear of falling and make it easier to learn maneuvers.


"It (learning tricks) was slow at first," said Miranda Miller, a sophomore dance major. "Then it seemed like all of a sudden it clicked and it was much more natural."


This will be associate dance professor Beckah Voigt's first time directing the spring concert. She said the dance department routinely calls on guest choreographers for the concert, but this year she looked specifically for someone with aerial dance experience.


"I called artists this year I respected, and I knew students wanted to learn how to do aerial dance, so that was the reason I called Monica Newsam," Voigt said. "It's been a very long rehearsal process since the fall. It was a totally new area for them (the dancers) and requires a lot of upper body and core strength."


Voigt also selected guest choreographer Summer Beasley a '97 Webster alumna who created a group piece based on energy. Beasley said her piece, "A Molecular Mass," is a representation of energy's movement through the body and molecules traveling within the body. Beasley's dancers are barefoot and perform to jungle sounds, giving the performance a raw, animalistic sense.


"Really thinking about how molecules move through your body and the blood flow of your body, I think that was probably the best thing, just using that to inspire movement," Beasley said.


Voigt choreographed two pieces for the performance. One is a lighthearted duet danced to hits by the Beach Boys and incorporating a 1950s style mustard-yellow couch. The other is an intense dance theater piece with 13 dancers, inspired by international issues of torture.


"I was in a performance last fall about Sister Dianna Ortiz, and I stayed in that frame of mind to produce this one (piece)," Voigt said.


Ortiz was a young American nun abducted and tortured in 1989 while doing missionary work.


Shannon Perea, a freshman dance major, said Voigt used creative methods to help the dancers understand the feeling behind the piece, and get into the right mindset.


"We did a lot of game playing to put ourselves into the situation," Perea said.


She described one game where all the dancers except one were blindfolded. The blindfolded members were told to capture the un-blindfolded dancer. This exercise was designed to simulate vulnerability and the feeling of being hunted, Perea said.


Webster dance instructor Jan Feager-Cosby choreographed a tap piece dedicated to Robert Sallier (1943-2005), an accompanist for Webster dance classes for nearly three decades.


"Many students still remember him and acknowledge him," Voigt said. "It's not sad; it's sort of bluesy, laid back and has many intricate layers."


Tyne Shillingford, a senior dance major, said she enjoyed learning Feager-Cosby's piece.


"The rehearsal process is always quite enjoyable," Shillingford said. "It's always nice when you know the choreographer and I have my fellow dancers there with me. It usually goes pretty smoothly."


Rehearsal can be fun, but it's not necessarily easy, Voigt said.


"These dancers are sometimes rehearsing six to eight hours a day," Voigt said. "Some may have two to three classes and then rehearse some two to three hours at night."


Voigt said anyone can audition for the Dance Ensemble. Twenty-seven students will perform in the concert. A preview will be performed at 8 p.m. March 8 in the Browning Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center and is open to the public. Additional performances are at 8 p.m. March 9 and 10 and at 2 p.m. March 11. The show is free to students and faculty with a valid Webster ID.


"I saw all of the pieces last night (March 2) for the first time," Perea said. "Normally, you have your favorites, but I couldn't pick a favorite out of all of them. They were all just great and it's kind of neat to see it all come together."

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