{"id":6627,"date":"2013-10-30T17:59:56","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T23:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin2013\/?p=6627"},"modified":"2013-10-30T17:59:56","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T23:59:56","slug":"powerful-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2013\/10\/powerful-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPowerful\u201d Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

The power and creativity of a dance performance by two Colorado College students drew enthusiastic reviews at Edinburgh Fringe, the world-renowned arts festival in Scotland.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA\u00a0thought-provoking and powerful performance,\u201d said one reviewer of the piece \u201cBlack & Blue\u201d, choreographed by Kate Rafter \u201913<\/b> and performed by Rafter and Dustin Ordway \u201914.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThe two performers explored, through modern dance approaches, a non-verbal dialogue about connection, aggression, and resolution,\u201d wrote reviewer Didi Craze. \u201cMusic, together with strong movements and quietly expressive facial expressions, made this a moving and dynamic piece of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shawn Womack, associate professor of dance and chair of the Colorado College Theatre and Dance Department, calls Rafter\u2019s work \u201cvisceral and raw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always thought out but not polished, and intentionally so,\u201d Womack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really like that about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"_dancestory2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Edinburgh Fringe is the first and largest of the Fringe festivals around the world.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a place where emerging artists get their start,\u201d Womack said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s also where seasoned artists return, testing new works.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafter talks about her work in a recent interview:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Tell me about your piece and what led up to your going to Scotland.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cBlack & Blue\u201d started as a Dance Workshop piece last fall. It was a 10\u00bd-minute group work for\u00a0myself, Dustin Ordway, Isobel McBride \u201916, Flora Liu \u201915, Samantha Buxbaum \u201916, Sari Lesem \u201915,<\/b> and Ryan Rodriguez \u201916. <\/b>I choreographed, and\u00a0Dustin was pretty much the rehearsal director. Because I knew from the beginning that I wanted fast movement, demanding physicality\u00a0and\u00a0full-body lifts, we would need some\u00a0protection from injury. Unlike CC athletics, the Theatre and Dance Department doesn\u2019t have conditioning or physical therapy. So,\u00a0with help from CCSGA I hired a strength trainer,\u00a0Matty Cartee \u201912,<\/b> to train us twice a week. I also consulted with\u00a0Matt Potter \u201914, Will Rudolph \u201913,<\/b> and Ross Calhoun \u201914<\/b> for wrestling.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack & Blue\u201d became half of my thesis show, and I gave it a reflective analysis in my written thesis, entitled\u00a0\u201cViolence and Transmutation.\u201d Dance faculty selected it to take to American College Dance Festival NW in March. (Ryan and Sari were replaced by Ross Calhoun \u201814<\/b>). We received good feedback from the adjudicators there.<\/p>\n

In the winter, I was\u00a0applying for anything and everything. I submitted the piece to Danceforms Productions. \u00a0They produce dance showcases in multiple American and European locations.\u00a0A friend of mine,\u00a0Dolo McComb \u201912,<\/b>\u00a0performed in this same Ed Fringe showcase several years ago. It was accepted; I think it was the only non-rejection I got.\u00a0I received a Jumpstart Award, which is a matching grant, from Colorado Creative Industries, to fund it.<\/p>\n

I was set to perform in a\u00a0small festival in Kentucky in late July.\u00a0Reggie Anderson \u201913<\/b>\u00a0was to be my duet partner. In early July, I was informed that the\u00a0Kentucky show was cancelled, and asked if I would like to perform in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival showcase instead. For Reggie, this conflicted with his Teach for America start date.\u00a0Dustin was at CC, about to leave for Kazan, Russia, for a dance residency (conducted by Shawn Womack with Dustin as choreographer\u2019s assistant), and I was in Toronto doing the summer program at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre (STDT). Despite all the uncertainties, Dustin and I said yes, that we would accept this opportunity, no matter what.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, during graduation week while I was still in Colorado,\u00a0Reggie and I had\u00a0made the major group-to-duet modifications together. Dustin and I used Skype, YouTube, and Facebook to work on the choreography.\u00a0Sharon Moore, who was teaching composition at the STDT summer program, advised me on how to make our intro more effective.\u00a0So when Dustin got off his Russia-NY-Scotland flight marathon to meet me in Edinburgh, giving us only three days to rehearse the new choreography, we had material ready for him to learn.<\/p>\n

The piece itself is about the escalation of violence, and how it takes the act of witnessing and\u00a0conscious choice to intervene and atone for offenses. It also explores the connection between\u00a0brutal movements and loving movements, how bad ones can be transmuted into good ones by shifting intention and tempo.\u00a0The write-up from Fringe Review actually captures it very well. Here\u2019s the copy I wrote for it:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seed of offense, planted in a reactive human landscape, escalates from suspicion to aggression to violence. Ultimately, an intervention depends on choice . . . and enables transmutation. \u00a0This is the duet adaptation of a work created for six dancers. The narrative was developed with collaborative input from performers. The choreography draws from modern dance methods, contact improvisation, wrestling and Delicious Movement [CC guest artist Eiko Otake\u2019s movement practice].\u201d<\/p>\n

2. What is your hometown?<\/b><\/p>\n

Portland, Oregon<\/p>\n

3. What are your plans post-graduation, long-term?<\/b><\/p>\n

Choreography. I am\u00a0interested in dance, new media,\u00a0interactive performance and design, as well as the administrative side of the arts.<\/p>\n

4. Shawn mentioned that you\u2019d been invited to join another showcase of emerging artists. \u00a0Could you tell me about that?<\/b><\/p>\n

When the Danceforms show closed, I got in touch with Dance Base, Scotland\u2019s National Centre for Dance. I invited the artistic director to see our duet after we got the good review. I suggested that we do a private showing. In response, she invited us to do a showcase called \u201cHeads Up\u201d on\u00a0Aug. 16. It\u2019s a showcase for emerging and experienced choreographers,\u00a0by invitation only,\u00a0intended for press, promoters and the public. We will be the only Americans.\u00a0The other participants have more experience than I do (with touring, press or awards) so I will be the\u00a0most\u00a0emerging, the newest and youngest in a sense. A little intimidating, but exciting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CC students\u2019 recent performance at the Edinburgh Fringe festival receives acclaim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-6627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-november-2013","tag-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2013\/10\/dance.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}