UMD dance program spotlights ‘power of human connection’ – Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — Concert dance can be intimidating for those who haven’t seen much of it, but there’s no need to get too technical about its appeal.

“I like spinny things,” said Kenzie Mcevoy.

Mcevoy, a University of Minnesota Duluth student, is among four student choreographers contributing work to “Dancing Tales,” the annual mainstage showcase for student dance at UMD. It will be

presented

at the Marshall Performing Arts Center from Friday, Feb. 13, through Sunday, Feb. 15.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

“It’s a yearly progress check for those of us who have consistently done it,” said student Sam Blazevic-Seibert. “We get to choreograph or dance and further our skills and artistic development through these dance concerts.

“For a lot of other people,” Blazevic-Seibert continued, “it’s a really good outlet for creative expression and just being able to dance. Whether it’s been part of your life before college, or you never danced until college, it’s a great way to just get out and dance.”

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

“We have a dance minor program under the umbrella of the Department of Theatre,” said Rebecca Katz Harwood, “Dancing Tales” artistic director. “It really feels more integrated than that, because we have a lot of our theater students who participate in the dance program we have with our musical theater major.”

Mcevoy and Blazevic-Seibert are two of four students who choreographed original work that will be presented in “Dancing Tales.” Another among those four is Alivia Lor, whose piece “A Fisherman’s Tale” features Hmong dragon dancing.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Lor, a double major in psychology and cultural entrepreneurship, said she appreciates that programs like “Dancing Tales” are open to students from across the university.

“Dance is something of a passion project of mine, and something that I really like to do, but not what I’m focusing on academically,” Lor said.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Katz Harwood’s “Vasalisa,” a nine-part dance story inspired by a classic Russian fairy tale, constitutes the second half of “Dancing Tales.” LilaAnn Coates White, assistant professor of dance, choreographed the harrowing “A Cautionary Tale,” which closes the program’s first half.

“Dancing Tales” also features a piece choreographed by Jothika Gorur, a member of the Minneapolis-based Ragamala Dance Company. Ragamala will be

presenting

a full performance at UMD on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

“When we have brought them up before, they’ve been able to teach a master class or do something (similar), but it’s felt a little self-contained,” Katz Harwood said. “Because I knew they were going to be coming and performing so (soon) after our own dance concert, I wondered if there was a way to expand the crossover and expand the engagement.”

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Gurur’s piece, “Prithvi,” is authentic to Ragamala’s style — rooted in South India’s Bharatanatyam dance form — but pitched to the level of the five student performers, Katz Harwood said. “She was teaching them the real stuff. She was not watering it down, and yet, she was also finding a way to tap the essence and, in a sense, to simplify.”

The concert’s theme encompasses the dances’ connections “to fairy tales, folklore, legends” and “cultural touchstones,” Katz Harwood said.

Student choreographer Cade Kaiser is presenting “The Circe Saga,” a dance inspired by the Homeric story and set to songs by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. “It was very fun figuring out ways to tell a story through dance and how to portray that without acting and speaking out the words,” Kaiser said.

Mcevoy’s piece goes back even farther. “It’s basically looking at Adam and Eve through the lens of human emotion,” Mcevoy said, “and not literally the story of the snake and the tree and the apple and God and everything.”

Lor said “it really does mean something special” to present her work in Duluth. She hopes it inspires viewers to appreciate the cultures represented in their community. “I think it’s beautiful to explore those in different ways, especially since they can be lost to time if you’re not careful.”

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

“Nice to See You Again,” choreographed by Blazevic-Seibert, was described in a UMD news release as a “supernatural tap duet.” In the show, it’s one of multiple pieces that touch on themes of grief.

Katz Harwood said that on one hand, it has felt like “a lovely respite” to focus on dance work, but in the face of “everything else that is going on,” the process of bringing “Dancing Tales” to the stage has also been inspiring.

“In seeing bodies moving on stage together, and in seeing these different kinds of stories, whether they are joyful or frightening, they remind us of our humanity,” she said.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Katz Harwood’s own piece, she noted, “is very much a celebration of community and a celebration of the resilience of Vasilisa, our heroine, and a celebration of how the group comes around to support this character on her journey, and how this group of dancers comes together as a community to tell this story. So it is work, but it’s also been a real blessing.”

“Dance is a physical outlet to express emotions that we can’t say verbally,” Mcevoy said. “No matter what style it is, you can really pour your heart and soul into something … and that’s what we’re doing here every day.”

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

This article was updated at 8:21 a.m. Feb. 11 to correct the name of “The Circe Saga” in two photo captions. It was updated again at 2:24 p.m. Feb. 11 to correct Kenzie Mcevoy’s name and, in one photo caption, the name of Cade Kaiser. It was originally posted at 5:33 a.m. Feb. 11. The News Tribune regrets the errors.