Environment, Elements Explored Through Dance

Author: Emily Price Staff Writer

The worlds of science and dance fell into synchronicity on Thursday Nov. 15, when Andrea Olsen, professor of dance, presented the Environmental Science Colloquium Series lecture in the CFA dance studio. The Dance Company of Middlebury (DCM) preformed selections from their work in progress, "Path," as Olsen narrated the lecture text to an audience that included many dancers as well as Environmental Studies professors and students who had trekked over from Bicentennial Hall.

The DCM members are Megan Hamilton '01.5, Jen Marlow '02.5, Katie MacDonald '03, Ben Calvi '02, Meg Neville '03, Sean Hoskins '02 and Jareb Keltz '01. They performed three selections from the seven-section main piece. These were "Earth," "Wood" and "Air." Each member has a solo piece. Keltz graduated last year with a joint Dance/Theater degree. He is now organizing the Company's springtour, and performed the solo "Air."

The dance was set to music composed by Mike Vargas. The music included natural sounds, like footsteps, crunching leaves, owls, trains and even silences. These every-day sounds evoked familiar feelings and — combined with the dancer's movements — transformed the atmosphere of the dance studio.

The result was a fascinating, thoughtful modern dance piece that questioned humans' relationship with the environment. The text incorporated fundamental ecological concepts of sustainability and rhythm in nature and scale. The presentation was dynamic and challenging for the audience and many who were familiar with these critical environmental issues but not familiar with modern dance.

The narration helped to illustrate these concepts within the dancers' movement. However, in the final piece, which will be finished this January, there will be less narration and text for the audience. The issue of text within dance is a difficult one for Olson, who has used text in the past and is now trying to move away from it.

As Olsen explained, the piece is an experiential guide to place. Experience and perception are the basis for both appreciating art and for understanding the current environmental crisis of our planet. In the narration for the first piece, "Earth," Olsen explained that sensation is the language of the body. Art makes us feel and as we feel, we care. There is much to care about now, as we are faced with problems such as decreasing resources, global warming and ignorance on the part of many humans.

The movement was beautiful and intriguing. Not only did the dancers engage us visually, they also made us stretch our minds over the ideas related to earth, wood and air. For example, in Hoskin's solo "Wood," we were not simply presented with a symbolic forest. We saw images that connoted a multitude of meanings around the concept of wood. These included the dancer's physical battle with imaginary insects within a forest and the essential items we reap from wood, including aspirin, paper and furniture.

The costumes were plain, and there were no props. Even so, the overall feeling from the dancers' movements, the music and the narration was clear and powerful. Most students, including Environmental Studies students, are used to presenting ideas in the form of essays and hypotheses. Sometimes these two-dimensional forms desensitize us to the urgency of the real issues. The impact of humans on the environment in the last century is causing a crisis we hear about so often that we are numb to it. Watching "Path" was refreshing. The dance made me think about and really feel the implications of these pressing environmental issues in a way that no essay, article or statistic can.

I think that for some, modern dance can be difficult to appreciate and understand. The overall message in this piece was clear, and members of the audience unfamiliar with modern dance enjoyed it. Look for the entire evening-length piece that will be performed on Jan. 18 and 19, 2002.