Thialan 1

Name: Radhanath Thialan (53453268)

Date: 1st December, 2016

Class: Modern III (DANCE 143A)

Instructors: Prof. Dante P.

Concert Report

First time being in a show at UCI is really fun! I am glad that coming from

Scottsdale Community College, I am not left out at all and the process is so similar in

which I am used to. Since I am casted in 2 pieces, I would like to compare and

contrast these 2 pieces Inner Pull by Dante Puleio and Relentless by Francesca Lee.

I really enjoyed working with both of the dancers and the UCI stage/dance/tech crew

are all amazing. It made me feel like its my second home since Im spending almost

13 hours on average in school everyday.

Dantes piece is more towards modern while Francescas piece is a

combination of both modern and jazz. Since Dante danced for Limn, hes style

definitely reflects it in the piece. While working with Dante, he is very clear in what

he wants and that resonates into the piece bringing it to live on stage. In both pieces, I

am glad that all dancers unite and work together as a group instead of an individual.

Group pieces like that will look awful without unity no matter how good an individual

is as a dancer him/herself. Dantes piece looked really fluid-like on stage which can

look a little creepy and powerful while conveying the message to the audience.

Frans piece on the other hand needs to be very powerful, strong and fierce in which

as a dancer in both pieces, I have to be able to switch roles immediately after two

pieces in between each other.

 Thialan 2

Both pieces that I am in are very structural in its own way and have great use

of space on stage. Frans piece is very direct in paths and is usually linear to bring out

the crux of being powerful. Even though we only have eight dancers, the use of space

is great and filled. However, there may be too much going on on stage where the

audience may be overwhelmed to where should they be looking at certain moments.

Dantes piece has twenty dancers, way more than Fran. However, there was almost

no traffic on stage at all due to the intelligent structure of his piece. In the starting,

he used bodies to create images on stage in which lights flash on and off to represent a

recalling of certain memories. Those pictures then reciprocate back in the pieces in

which will allow the audience to recall those movements. That is a smart choice to

make as a choreographer or the beginning session may seem out from the rest of the

dance.

Watching the videos of rehearsals and the performance brought amazement to

my eyes. The lighting designer did an amazing job making full use of the technology

available to them to light the piece. In Dantes piece, the light design was really well

lit yet not overdone. The light crew also did amazing jobs focusing the lights as I had

worked in theatres before and I know the hard work put into it. Calling cues on time

is also an element to bringing the piece to live on stage. There were few moments in

Frans piece where if the cue is delayed, the effect would not work as well and I am

very happy that the lighting board crews are very aware and focused during the

process. Costume wise, I enjoyed the simplicity yet powerful image by Fran and

Dantes Butoh, new-age look to add essence to the choreography.

Comparing these two pieces, we are able to see the differences and similarities

set on stage with total different intentions which is amazing. However, dance as an

art form cannot be made to live without these mutual collaboration between the
 Thialan 3

choreographers, dancers, lighting designers/crew, costume designers/crew,

composers/musicians, audio crew, stage crews and all of the others in bringing the

choreographers vision to live. I really appreciate this opportunity to reflect upon all

that I have learnt here and to write this paper.