Dance Spotlight: Behind-the-Scenes of Flicker

A space for art of all kinds, from spoken word to sculpture to radio pieces to dance, Flicker is the student-created-and- produced showcase for artistic expression, established and directed by Aoife Duna ’16.5. The first showcase of the year took place on Friday, Nov. 7 in the Middlebury College Dance Theatre, with ten works presented in addition to a pre-show tabling of literary publications from around campus.

This iteration of Flicker, the second after the premier J-term 2014 event, welcomed works-in-progress alongside finished pieces, allowing artists to share their creative processes with the campus community. This unique opportunity to create and share one’s personal artistic endeavors, class-related or not, aims to encourage exploration, experimentation and collaboration between people inclined to express themselves through a wide array of mediums.

In the College environment, we may not always find it possible to devote the time to creating polished, finalized works between other demands. This is part of the reason Duna encourages people to present ongoing pieces and to collaborate in the creative process.

Willingness to show a work in the midst of its creation holds an element of vulnerability and openness on the part of the artist which establishes the potential for engaging dialogue between peers and appreciators, friends and spectators. Hopefully, this will generate a greater enthusiasm for engaging with art in all its forms at the College and beyond.

The creative experience of this iteration of Flicker began before audience members even entered the theater, with tables set up for literary publications Room 404, Beyond the Green and Storytold to share their work. Inside the theater, audience members encountered a sculpture by Annie Bartholomew ’17 that engaged the eye with color and non-linear shape. Then the performances began, ranging from poetry to a radio piece to a myriad of dance performances.

Since I was part of a dance piece choreographed by Duna, I would like to take the opportunity to share a bit of the choreographic and rehearsal process behind her work, “Banana Split (with a side of brewing storm).” Many people have expressed to me that they “don’t understand dance,” so perhaps a glimpse into the way it takes form will open up some avenues of appreciation.

It is important, for me at least, to note that art-making does not always have a specific purpose or message that the viewer or audience member is supposed to “get.” Rather, it is about tapping into the deeper aspects of our human experience and learning to express those insights.

For her piece, Duna began with an intention to explore an energy and physicality other than the oft-assumed ideal of grace and effortless perfection of movement that stems from modern dance’s roots in ballet. To explore a kind of movement that is more raw, even animalistic, in its physicality, we began our first rehearsals listening to the kind of energetic music that just demands movement, letting the energy come out in whatever physical form felt right rather than jumping into refined, memorized choreography right away.

Exploring the interplay of sound, movement and energies formed a foundation of inquiry and ideas upon which the piece developed over several weeks of rehearsal. The work took form in sections or phrases that captured some ideas important to Duna as part of the vision of the whole piece, and the phrases gradually came together, shifting and settling into an overall structure as we learned the choreography.

Each choreographer, of course, has his or her personal way of developing a piece, but for me as a dancer it was rewarding to share in so much of Duna’s imagination of what the piece meant to her, and to help it take shape. Duna spoke in rehearsals about creating a space where we could feel free to express ourselves fully and physically in a way that we rarely are able to experience in our daily lives due to societal or personal expectations of how we should act or move. Whether that meant leaping around the room and yelling, flailing and laughing, rolling around on the floor or being still, it was about being fully embodied in how we felt and not holding anything in. This sense of freedom in our creative expression was channeled into Duna’s choreography. Even as we embodied movements that she had come up with, the movements were also our own, sustained and given life and meaning through our individual energy.

In the dynamic, creative interplay of Duna’s vision as a choreographer and the individual  personalities and physical presences of every dancer, a space of collaboration and mutual exploration gave rise to a piece and a performance experience which hopefully shared some of that creative exploration of rich physical expression with the audience who attended Flicker on Friday night.

Flicker will have its next iteration in J-term of 2015. Interested students may become involved in making art of any and all kinds by visiting go/flicker and contacting Aoife Duna (aduna@middlebury.edu) for more information. The showcase welcomes any artists curious about making and exploring, no experience required. As Duna put it, “Keep making, doing, questioning, yearning! Lets kick Midd’s art scene into high gear!”