Many people may think only biology and chemistry students have the opportunity to investigate on a microscopic level. However, tonight at Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater, seven dance students will defy expectations.
The world arts and cultures department’s “Microscopic Histories” features six dances by seven second-year master of fine arts students in choreography who create and perform a showcase after the completion of their core curriculum. This showcase is not an academic requirement, but it is an unofficial tradition among the graduate students.
This year’s dances look at a specific cultural phenomenon in order to critique the human experience, with varied themes such as dating and Santeria rituals.
And according to Rachael Lincoln, one of the show’s choreographers, each choreographer explores how to put life’s little moments under a microscope and then put them on stage.
Lincoln’s dance deals with the intricacies of loss and sympathy. A quartet of dancers represents different reactions to grief, from bubbly anxiety to sensitive distance. By infusing tight smiles and sympathetic sighs with the maudlin text of sympathy cards, Lincoln highlights the complications that arise from well-meant, but ultimately misdirected, consolations.
Other choreographers focus their investigation on specific cultures. Sheetal Gandhi pulls inspiration from her summer research in Northern India, where she spent time learning about female narratives of the Indian culture.
Gandhi utilizes contemporary dance and the classical North Indian dance form of Kathak to depict the lives of females in India and the restrictions that are placed on them. As the only performer in the piece, Gandhi draws the audience in by transitioning between female roles: mothers, daughters, aunts, herself. “The threads from the old character get woven into the next character, so it’s not like a complete period or a stop,” Gandhi said.
“If I’m a bird and I have these quirky little bird movements in my head and in my hands, then how does this transform into this auntie of mine who moves very much like a bird? She’s always flitting about; her head’s always moving.”
Rebecca Pappas, another choreographer, prefers a more jarring transition to magnify her message. Her piece explores monstrosity on a personal and national level, focusing on issues such as Jewish identity and nationalism. The dance, called “Monster,” creates a clear distinction between the performers and the parts of themselves of which they are most ashamed by physically manifesting those parts in the form of monsters.
“It starts off overly bright and happy and almost cartoonish, with this folk dance with four women who wear big long wigs with these big long braids. It starts to be more violent and darker and darker. … I think the best reactions I’ve had are people who sort of laugh and then become uncomfortable with the violence of it,” she said.
Though the dances in “Microscopic Histories” peer closely at their subjects, the choreographers feel their shows are relatable to every audience member. Gandhi used universal ideas of travel and food in her own experiences and the experiences of other Indian women ““ both tragic and humorous ““ as a means of creating dialogue.
“There are so many stories about being on an airplane, and out come all the snacks,” she said. “Growing up Indian American ““ I think a lot of people from a lot of cultures can agree with this ““ food culture habits are very particular.”
Gandhi hopes for an evolution from the microscopic level to the macroscopic as the audience members take each dance’s carefully focused theme and apply it to their own lives.
“A lot of times artists create work because they want to investigate something, … this idea or this movement or this feeling. But then (our) very next thought is, “˜How am I communicating that? How is it reaching out to people? What effect is it having or not having?'” she said. “Because deep down what I really want to do is communicate; I don’t want to just do it for myself.”