Wednesday, January 27, 1999
Director draws inspiration from alienation
DANCE: The Movement Company challenges audiences, performers to
explore deep within themselves
By Elena Powell
Daily Bruin Contributor
Alienation is something people deal with on a daily basis, and
Cassandra Bruno is dealing with it the best way she knows how –
through dance.
Bruno, the 25-year-old director of The Movement Company will
take on the daunting task of expressing the emotion of estrangement
when she premiers "Alienation" this Saturday at the Attic Theatre
Centre in Hollywood.
A UCLA alumna, Bruno created The Movement Company, a Los Angeles
based dance troupe, two and a half years ago. Just as the
proverbial grain of sand creates the pearl, this dance troupe was
brought to life out of Bruno’s own disillusionment with the world
of a working dancer.
"I got out of school, I was working a part time job for a while
and I just got kind of frustrated," remarks Bruno. "I thought,
‘Gosh, what did I go to school for? Let’s do something here.’"
Since then, the ensemble has tripled in size, and Bruno is ready
to tackle the broad subject of alienation in every way, shape and
form with the help of her assistant director Katy Barnhill, a
fourth-year world arts and cultures major at UCLA.
"I’m kind of a police officer. I call people and yell at them
when they’re late to rehearsal and ask for company dues and things
like that," says Barnhill. "(Bruno) is basically the vision behind
The Movement Company and the drive. I kind of help her with all the
dirty work."
Bruno found inspiration for "Alienation" about a year ago while
listening to a piece of original music composed by a friend. "I
listened to it, and I went, ‘Wow, that kind of inspired me,’" Bruno
explains. She then began choreographing the show and attempting to
create an art form that would provide audiences with more than just
a little entertainment.
Although basically a modern dance theater, the progressive
nature of The Movement Company allows the show to go beyond just
dance and therefore, expects its performers to be more than just
dancers. With eight fragmented scenes, "Alienation" explores the
emotion behind its subject matter by blending stories, words,
monologues and poetry into the solid dance program. By putting
gestures to words in order to convey emotion, the dancers create
what Bruno calls a "movement vocabulary" that allows the performers
to speak through dance.
Bruno is tied personally to this show because of its
autobiographical nature.
"All the text is from my own personal writing and my own
personal experiences," Bruno says. "Pretty much everything is based
on my life, my whole life story."
Hillary Black, a member of The Movement Company since August
1997 and also a UCLA alumna says, "(Bruno) had to sit down and do
some soul searching."
Bruno wasn’t the only one practicing introspection, though. She
requested it of her dancers as well.
Although Bruno is the choreographer of the show, she allows her
dancers to express themselves individually through structured
improvisation.
"She gave us a couple of words to see how they trigger our
brains into choreographing and from there we put together a scene,"
explains Barnhill.
Bruno evoked the feelings and emotions needed from her dancers
by making statements like, "They call me… I call myself…" and
daring the performers to fill in the blanks. She also stirs up the
minds of the dancers by asking them to consider what makes them
feel alone but makes them strong.
"As an artist, you do have to do a lot of work alone," Black
says. "If you’re a dancer or an actor, you need people to share it
with, and yet you need to go home and practice by yourself …
Doing the work you need to do then makes you stronger."
For these dancers, the personal discipline required to master
their craft gives them the freedom to be all the more creative.
This show provides a way for the dancers to express themselves and
forget their own feelings of alienation. Instead of being singled
out, they are coming together as 10 individuals in order to form
something bigger.
As Black says, "The dancers are so unique and yet we can come
together and create."
DANCE: "Alienation" premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30 at the
Attic Theatre Centre (6562 1/2 Santa Monica Blvd.) in Hollywood.
For more information, call (323) 469-3786 ext.2.The Movement
Company
The Movement Company’s "Alienation" will premiere in Hollywood
this weekend.
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]