Harrison Sanders

Outside Dance Critique

Choreography Concert

For this semester’s outside dance critique, I went to see the Dance Center of

Greensboro’s “The Nutcracker”. Though the cast list was smaller than normal, I still found the

show to be enjoyable. The acting, when acting was necessary, was superb, and got the message

of the show across very well. I also felt as though the facial expressions were kept up very well

during the show (a rarity)!

However, the energy level also had a drawback. -- Something which was visible several

times -- Which was the over-use of emotion, or the use of the wrong emotion either at the wrong

time, or the wrong emotion for the entire dance, or even no emotion at all. Sometimes, having no

emotion is choreographed, but, most of the time, the use of emotion is what keeps an audience

engaged. If one person smiles during a dance, but a few don’t, then the audience won’t be

captivated. This is another point which ties in with my next; which is the entire focus of the

dancers. I know that one method of not smiling on stage is to not look at the audience, but

instead look past them, or avert your eyes slightly, but at times, it seemed as though everyone

was focusing on different things in multiple different directions. They did not turn their heads

completely, but by looking at their individual faces, it was clear that they weren’t focused where

they were (Again, something understandable, as most, if not all dancers are guilty of this,

whether they admit it or not).

While the crowd wasn’t… What I would consider overly large, I would still say that they

responded well to the entirety of the show. All of the pieces were received well, and got the

applause and cheers they deserved.

Harrison Sanders

Overall, the Dance Center of Greensboro is still very good at telling the classic story of

The Nutcracker, and I am glad that I was able to see it this year. The story may be the same, but

it is always able to captivate me every time.