Contrived Persona

Mix up a little step dancing, Lady Gaga, the macabre, Paul Newman, “Leaves of Grass,” mime movements, cellos, Dr. Mosher and 70 SUNY Fredonia students and you get Orchesis’ spring production, Contrived Persona.  Orchesis, a student-run dance company, performs two recitals each academic year in addition to providing workshops on various dance styles that are open to all. 

“We just want to be open to people, make sure they know we are here,” said Kaity Davie, senior music business major and president of Orchesis Dance Company. The group is not exclusive to dance majors, she indicated, saying, “You don’t need formal training, you just need passion.” The e-board of Orchesis chose the concept of hidden or disguised identity as the theme for this production, intrigued by the idea of persona and how we perform, create and project it to ourselves and others.

Contrived Persona opened in Bartlett Theater on Friday evening, beginning with sophomore Joseph A Crescimanno’s A Separate Peace. The simple, square stage was interrupted by a tall cage whose floor was covered with red rose petals. A dancer stood inside the cage, contemplated his surroundings and toyed with rose petals as nine other performers interacted outside of his enclosed space. The piece began with Paul Newman’s voice performing the monologue “Any Other Time,” and concluded with the voice of Kevin Spacey reciting the final monologue from the film American Beauty. 

There were brief, exquisite moments where the dancers’ movements solidified the air around them. At the exposition of “Don’t Think Too Hard,” choreographed by Joseph Corallo, Lauren Smith’s trembling fingers cut through the air with such a poignant combination of terror and deliberation that the space around her fingers activated, seeming tangible. 

“Often, My Friend” by guest choreographer Daniel Charon, told a melancholic story whose main characters flirted, fought and fell in love with each other.  Facial expressions on the parts of Lauren Alley, Alison Brady, Sarah Falkenhagen, Rachel Fischer, Julie Levitt, Katelyn O'Neill, Sara Shinder and Leah Urtel sketched in a sense of story for the audience in what would otherwise have been an obtuse piece.  The choreography combined seductive undulations with squared-off, mime-like movements that unified with the French music to create a sense of street performers on a sunny European sidewalk.

Typically music and dance are a no-brainer pairing, but that was not the case for the silent piece, “I Am Not For Sale.” The dancer’s abrupt, aggressive movements were accented only by the sounds of their feet slapping and sliding on the floor, and by their overlapping whispers.  Phrases including “I am not stupid,” “I am not a pushover,” “I am not exaggerating” and “I am not the problem,” overlapped in ghostly rounds in Bartlett’s airspace, rising in a gradual crescendo to shouted lines as the dancers’ movements became more agitated.  Choreographer Allesandra R. Kivinen’s unique take on dance performance was occasionally angst-ridden but predominantly gripping.

Lady Gaga influences surfaced in “Metallic Repair,” choreographed by Lorenzo Parnell.  Moving through jazz and step dancing motions, the dancers wore black and white outfits and gold masks that enclosed their faces completely. The final effect was one of anonymity and suggested that concealing our true selves from others can blind us, too. 

Lauren Kerzee, an English Literature Masters student at Fredonia, contributed to Contrived Persona as a guest choreographer.  Previously, she danced with Orchesis for two years as an undergraduate.  Like the other choreographers, she had to consider the unique seating in Bartlett Theater, where the audience surrounds every side of the stage.

“You have to make sure every single side [of the audience] gets equal time,” she said.  “I tried to incorporate lifts that will look cool from every angle.” 

Titled “Hath a Reference to my State,” Kerzee’s piece incorporated with the voice of Terry Mosher of the English department reading Preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. His vocals combined with the agonized, dramatic chords of cello-rock classical group Apocalyptica to create an intensely emotional, auditory backdrop for an expressive piece. The strength and agility of dancers Cori Henry, Ashley Moran, Sara Shinder, Leah Urtel and Kristin Zells were showcased in a variety of complex and impressive lifts that gave the piece an athletic, powerful tone and ended the performance on a triumphant note.