They move with the energy of the speaker in the song, women with the strength to move through the world independently. Movements are staccato but somehow also have a satisfying smoothness. They wear black onstage together (with black masks and black scarves as headbands), against a black darkdrop. Nikki Haggan’s Independent is a hip-hop piece that means business, just like the “independent woman” speaker in the song.
I wonder if similar shots of more dancing feet - or even hands, arms, torsos could bring more of that effect and play at the childlike curiosity in the work (children focus both out and in, wherever they are called to focus to learn). One shot of dancing feet is particularly compelling. Throughout the work, close-ups vary up the visual picture. Toward the end of the work they close the book, and with a tinkerbell swipe lights are at their feet and their faces light up. Interspersed with their dancing, shifting to and from them with a glittery Tinkerbell swipe, are two little boys reading a book together.
They move carefree and easy, like beings that can fly wherever they please. The movement alternates between ballet and jazz, perhaps playing to individual dancer’s strengths. The gold in their costumes and their string light props reference fireflies’ pointed illumination. Dancers, reminiscing fairy-like creatures, move outdoors against backdrops of forests, lakes, and mountains. Nadya Karpova ’s Fireflies has a heartwarming childlike quality. The dancers’ honest emotionality, such as in a moment of all opening their mouths as if screaming, also feels aligned with the song’s grunge era - as well as the one we’re currently in. The confidence and self-accepting attitude of grunge is also in the movement - with directly facing the camera and reaching big in a sustained quality. It’s fascinating how choreographers and videographers are finding these ways to replicate in film what happens in a typical dance on a stage! The grunge costumes of flannel and black pay homage to the grunge era of the song. Melissa DeFriesse ’s What’s Up has memorable camera effects: fading in and out, Zoom squares intersecting with one another, building formations such as pyramids. Proud Mary keeps on burnin’ and yearnin’, after all. Line and circle formations bring to mind the shape of a river and its continuity. The work offers big movement through space and through the body (such as almost thrash-like reaches and releases through the torso) for a tap piece - which serves its energy. The dancers shed their grey jacket costumes to reveal red fringe dresses - ones that would make Ms. Then, as the song picks up energy and speed, the piece becomes a giant dance party. The piece begins with a black and white filter and the dancers wearing grey costumes, along with the slower music in the classic song’s beginning. It’s nice to see tap, which can feel less appreciated than many other dance forms nowadays, open the show. Mykala Marcelino’s Proud Mary, set to Tina Turner’s iconic song, is a lively tap piece. Here are some of the pieces in the program that resonated with me the most, as well as demonstrated some of the broad possibilities within dance on film. These are tools that create final products that, arguably, couldn’t ever really be created on a stage. Fresh concepts and enthusiastic, committed performances bring further life to the use of various film tools in different pieces. OnStage Dance Company’s Season 20 film program demonstrates this perseverance and ingenuity with what filmed dance can be. They’ve adapted to make the best of the situation through learning more about the various possibilities that videography can bring to their work, and through that creating a new kind of dance magic. Yet, as we can expect from artists, they have in no way let these challenges stop them. That’s what dancemakers are grappling with in the context of COVID. Similarly, on the audience side, the feel in your bones of dance art happening right before you is in no way the same as watching a dance film from the comfort of your home. Moving together in the stage lights, feeling the energy of your castmates and the audience: rehearsing and performing virtually can’t replace that. Accessible through the company’s website.
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