What makes a dance performance stand out among others? Sometimes it could be as simple as showcasing a groundbreaking new movement or it could be the appeal of a special well-known guest. In the case of Columbia College Chicago’s American Dancing Bodies Symposium at the Dance Center, it was the performance structure and audience interaction that took the spotlight. This was my first dance performance and I had no idea what to expect on audience etiquette or the show layout. Right off the top of the show, Myka, a student at Columbia, encouraged the audience to applaud and hype up the performers during the social dance and the entire showcase as a whole. I really appreciated this as it kept me more engaged than your normal theater type setting where everyone is quiet and just watching. However, the biggest part that kept many other people and I hooked and locked in was the performance setup and structure. They could have used any format but they made the best choice to start the show off with the hip hop/social dance, sticking ballet in the middle, and ending in a bang with the West African Drum and Dance. There wasn’t a single moment that my eyes strayed away from the performers and the stories they were telling through their pieces. Although they are overshadowed by the contents of a performance, the structure and layout can make a huge difference in the impact left on the attendee and engaging the audience to be a part of the community being presented is guaranteed to make a performance stand out.
Starting with BraveSoul Movement’s hip hop/house/social dance piece, Be ‘Bout It (2017), my initial feeling when it came to audience engagement was that of a church worship setting. Throughout the piece the audience would clap, cheer, bop their heads, throw their hands up, and hype the performers up as the energy increased gradually throughout. As for the actual dance itself, dancers would enter from all different directions and would never focus on a single focal point. The music gave off jazz inspiration yet they did various hip hop and street techniques such as sliding across the stage, locking and popping, and various forms of breaking with freeze stops. Their costumes were casual streetwear and the lighting gave off a blue and amber mix which accented the costumes and movements. The part that really caught my eye was when everyone would huddle up in a circle or group and let one dancer show off their skills as if they were in a club or street gathering. A couple of my favorites were from dancers, Wyatt “Willard” Sutter and Dion Randle also known as iCrisis.
For most of Wyatt’s freestyle he was breaking, doing various spins and headstands, using his full body upper and lower to catch and respond to his surroundings. I could see some Martha Graham influence when it came to his floor work. There was this one part where his hat fell off and he picked it up and put it back on while still breaking and he played it off so well I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. In the program it stated that Wyatt was first introduced to dance and movement by his mother in which he developed a love for funk, hip hop, and house. Throughout the performance it was clear how dedicated and passionate he is to his craft and his deep appreciation for the culture behind it. In his own words he said “we dance with each other, for each other, and explore with each other.” That is one of the biggest fundamentals of hip hop and he showcases it in a way that truly adds to the community.
Moving on to Dion Randle/iCrisis, his stage presence and energy was unmatched. He had the audience going ham and insane and that only added to his moment. When I say this dude had swag, he had swag. While his main focus was Krump and boy did he Krump alright, he was definitely skilled through many forms of street dance. He was so swift and sharp with his arm movements and waves, the louder the audience got the faster and harder he went in. It is important to note that he has been doing Krump for 18 years and has a clear knowledge of the culture and his character’s story.
Going back to BraveSoul as a whole, their goal as said in the program is to bring the communal vibe and rawness of underground street dance cultures to the stage. Led by Daniel “BRAVEMONK” Haywood and Kelsa “K-Soul” Rieger-Haywood, Be Bout It, which premiered in 2017 at The Dance Center is all about exploring lineage and accountability within the community. Through each performer you could see that they had a deep understanding within the histories of their hip hop and house social dances. Their piece was meant to make you feel like you are part of the community and experiencing it firsthand up and close. They excelled in keeping the audience engaged and not knowing what to expect next.
Transitioning to a brief description of the last 2 showcases, the next piece was 1792 (2023) by the Joffrey Academy Contemporary Trainee Program choreographed by Kaitlin Michael Bourgeois. One thing that seems to be embedded in everyone’s heads is the elite and prestige etiquette when it comes to a ballet performance. When the dancers came out the audience tone immediately switched from that church worship setting to quiet library setting. While it clearly shows the respect everyone has for ballet it still begs the question on what are the restraints in audience participation for contemporary ballet? I will say though, as someone who isn’t really fascinated as much with ballet, nothing against it, just not my forte, they knocked it out of the park and kept me engaged. What I really enjoyed was how they broke certain balletic ideals such as the man picking up the woman. In this piece it was a woman picking up a woman and that shows the cultural and societal influence modern values have on contemporary ballet.
Quite literally the best way to finish it off was with Mama Ayo Alston’s Rhythms of West Africa, an all-women West African drum & dance piece full of grounded lower bodies, very high energetic movements and shoulder isolations. Everything about this piece was elevated between the drums and stomping to the body shaking and audience eruption. Going from ballet to this was what one could say a risky move but it worked perfectly and blended everything that the audience engagement should be. The entire layout and structure was perfectly set up and balanced to give the audience a dive into these communities and the stories being conveyed and despite this being my first dance performance I believe they definitely left a unique mark.
