Annual dance show is no still 'Image'
By Maggie Beidelman
Five, six, seven, eight- the music reverberates off the walls of the dark theater as performers in this weekend's production of "Images" spin to a tango in pointed shoes, re-enact the enchanting story of Peter Pan and continually reposition a mattress on-stage.
The Music and Dance department's largest annual production, "Images" is a professional dance concert featuring the works of four Santa Clara faculty members and four student choreographers, whose works were chosen from fall's Choreographers' Gallery. The show runs this Thursday through Saturday night at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. in Mayer Theatre.
"Most students don't realize what a strong dance program we have," said faculty choreographer Kristin Kusanovich. Certainly, the talent in this show is enough to entertain, but then of course there's the rousing music, glittering costumes and sheer energy of the performance exuding from every dynamic dancer.
"We've been practicing for six hours a week since auditions in October," said senior Maureen Walsh of the faculty pieces. And then there's the additional two-to-six hours a week of practice for the student dances.
Due to the rigorous demands of each dance, the dancers are allowed to be in only two of the eight pieces. This excludes Robert Daze, who is one of the six males out of the 45 total performers in the show.
"Each individual piece has its own image," said faculty choreographer David Popalisky, who uses mattresses as on-stage props in his dramatic modern dance, "Feel Deeply."
Other faculty choreographers include this year's director, Fran Atlas-Lara, Karyn Connell and Kusanovich.
Atlas-Lara's "Second Star to the Right" is a 15-minute artistic interpretation of Peter Pan. Connell describes her piece, "Anything but a Tango," as "a combination of the classical element with contemporary dance moves." Kusanovich's "Light Seeking Light," rounds out the faculty group with its use of a spectrum of genres, including Gregorian chants.
Senior Karl Kuehn, who choreographed "Disgustine" and will be performing with a strained rotator cuff admitted, "It's hard to balance school and rehearsal, especially when tech week is during midterms." However, he immediately added that although the energy and endurance is hard to keep up, "I like it because it is a challenge."
The performers have been juggling a strenuous schedule of rehearsal, classes and, in many cases, jobs. "Everyone's always sick in mid-winter quarter, so it's hard to practice," noted Walsh.
On the other hand, "There's nothing I'd rather be doing than performing on-stage," said Kuehn.
However, "You sacrifice a lot," added Kuehn. "They're counting on you to be at every rehearsal, and you have no social life." Because the performers spend so much time with each other, however, they describe themselves as "family." They even call Connell "Mom."
"I want this week to go by slowly," said Walsh, thinking of this final week of her fourth and final year in "Images."
"It's a bittersweet feeling," she said. "I feel excitement and sadness at the same time."
But as she said, "The applause is great." And there will be plenty of that come opening night.
Contact Maggie Beidelman at (408) 551-1918 or mbeidelman@scu.edu