The excitement was palpable as the audience filed into the Barn last Thursday for opening night of RWU Dance Theatre’s spring concert. The program promised ten pieces, with several large and small group dances as well as duets, including a ten-minute improvised dance.
As the lights dimmed, the audience’s fidgeting quieted. Shadowed figures emerged from behind the curtained wings. Suddenly, the stage was bathed in bright red light, illuminating the dancers sprawled across the floor. A beat. Another. The music rushed in, spurring the dancers’ bodies to twist and shift to the beat. They came together and apart, punctuating each thrum of the song with tight, contained movement. At the dance’s close, the audience burst into applause and cheers. The night had begun.
Energetic group numbers like this one were balanced by small, contained duets scattered throughout, each an excerpt from a longer piece called moments. Emotion was the theme of the night, often punctuated by tragedy; the stories communicated through movement were often achingly beautiful. The dancers transitioned seamlessly from asymmetrical shapes and sharp motions to smooth extended lines and balanced symmetry, flowing in and out of each move with equal parts grace and earnest longing. Every piece– every dancer– told a story, and what is dance if not physical storytelling?
The audience’s favorite bit seemed to be the powerful Act I closer Take Care of Me, a group number where each dancer wore strikingly red gloves set off by dark clothing. If each piece was a story, this was one heavy with desperation and codependency; the dancers moved in groups and pairs, folding into and out of one another’s bodies with barely contained anguish. At the end, they tore off their gloves and formed a sort of nest on the ground, a tangle of entwined limbs and curved spines. One girl swayed back and forth on the edge, arms curved around her castmates. A single hand rose from the center of the mass, shaking, topped by a red glove– until the group yanked it back into its heart.
From the power of many to the simple yet moving tightly contained grace of a pair, every moment of Dance Theatre’s spring concert held a masterful sway over the audience. This show was one they will not soon forget.
