It has been really interesting to observe and participate in the choreographic process these past couple of months. As this is my first year being a member of Orchesis, it is all new to me and I am still getting used to it, but it is very interesting and exciting to see what the minds of dancers can come up with when they work together. I have been dancing since I was 3 years old. I was on my high school dance team all 4 years. But never have I experienced something as interesting, as thought-provoking, as interactive as the choreographic process I have been exposed to on Orchesis. Although as students on my dance team we were able to choreograph our own pieces, the process was a lot different. I really like how the choreographers ask for the dancers’ feedback and are willing to take suggestions and even make changes if they think someone’s idea is more interesting than their own. I have always been used to the choreographer setting the steps and the formations, and everyone going along with what they are told to do, so it has been interesting to see a different way of creating dances. This way, we get the collaboration of everyone’s most creative ideas and, consequentially, the most interesting and dynamic pieces.
Working on the finale has been a lot of fun. Though many find it tedious, I like seeing the way each section of the piece is created. How it can start from as little as one pose or movement and can be expanded into a minute-long sequence. How each little movement has a purpose, has a meaning in the big picture of the piece, and of the entire show. Each movement initiates another slightly different movement, but if you look at the first and the last movements they are entirely different, yet somehow linked. Everything is connected on the continuum that makes up the art of dancing.
I have thoroughly enjoyed these past couple months of working with the Orchesis Dance Company, and I am looking forward to what is to come.
Photo: Sara Tollefson
