The Ohio Wesleyan department of theatre and dance presented student-produced dance pieces at Orchesis this weekend.
The annual performance, which was in its 64th year of production, according to University Chaplain Jon Powers’s introduction to the performance, ran from Nov. 14-16 at the Chappelear Drama Center. It included eight modern pieces featuring student performers, seven of which were choreographed by students.
Senior Lauren Holler, the only choreographer to present a senior project, provided ample explanation in her program statement about the vision behind her piece. Holler, a double major in politics and government and theatre and dance, combined her seemingly dissimilar passions for public service and law into her choreography.
“I find that public service, dance, and law are all vehicles for codifying the human experience,” she wrote in her program note. “I believe that the arts, dance in particular, can play a vital role in politics and local communities. Dance can and should be used as a vehicle for social change.”
Holler said she attempted to use her choreography to explore the social tendency to marginalize others.
“Basically my piece was a depiction of majoritarian democracy gone wrong,” she said.
“The average audience member probably did not read that far into my piece … As long as I got people thinking or at the very least entertained them, I’d say my piece was a success.”
Rashana Smith, an assistant professor of dance who directed Orchesis for the second time this year, explained her goals for the production in her program statement.
“This year I paid particular attention to the development of the student choreography as a means of highlighting individual ideas and physical facility within the common group of artists,” she wrote. “This year’s approach was particularly potent in the way of choreographic processes … (and) the experience of stepping out of comfort zones.”
At Friday night’s opening of Orchesis, Chappelear was nearly filled with students and other members of the OWU community.
“I appreciated the choreographers creativity this year,” said senior Katrina Mason-Bentz, who has attended Orchesis three years in a row.
“A lot of the pieces were very modern, and most were more about communicating a message as opposed to going through technical motions… It was a different show than what has been done in the past, but I really enjoyed it.”