Each semester, students in the dance program at Lang perform the intense and avant-garde pieces they’ve worked to master all term. The three pieces in this semester’s show, held on Dec. 6 and 7 in the Tishman Auditorium, were choreographed by Lang Dance students and New York-based choreographers Nami Yamamoto, Eleanor Smith and Molly Lieber.
“I think every piece has its own life, and that includes each of the seven student works,” said Neil Greenberg, a professor of choreography and chair of the Arts Program at Lang.
“From watching the show, I think something about being present was embodied fully. It wasn’t a bunch of minds out there dancing and it wasn’t a bunch of mindless bodies out there dancing, it was an embodied mind.”
The opening piece was choreographed and directed by Nami Yamamoto, in collaboration with the students who performed it. Yamamoto hails from Japan and obtained her BFA from New York University before earning prestigious dance awards like the The New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Award for outstanding production.
Entitled “Flash,” the dancers in Yamamoto’s opening piece wore shades of red, nude and yellow streetwear. The 14 dancers arrived on the stage and formed a single file line, then began clapping with their backs facing the audience. As the piece went on, the dancers relied on each other in lifts and jumps and used all the space the stage allowed while running back and forth.
The second piece to take the stage was “Seven Textures: Studies in Meaning Making,” which featured student work from Greenberg’s Performance and Meaning Making course. The audience’s eyes were glued to the black marley floor as dancers explored the space and themselves. Choreographed by students Jan Simon, Darrell Freeman, E G Condon, Emma Engel, Amelia Genthe and Nick Blankenship, the piece was sectioned by each of their solos.
The dancers performed as if they were alone in the room, even as the audience stared on in silence with music being sparse for most of the solos. A profound moment of the piece was when dancer E G Condon told the audience a personal story about friends passing away and what it means to hold on to memories.
“I’m pretty satisfied with how the show turned out. I’ve been performing for a very long time so I don’t get too worried about any of it,” Condon said, who’s in their final year as a BAFA student at Parsons and Lang.
“I think the whole show worked out very well and was cohesive, which typically doesn’t happen because it’s a bunch of choreographers working separately,” they said.
Concluding the show was “Becomes the Rose,” choreographed by Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith, who are known for their powerful work together, and for critical acclaim, including being named The New York Times “The Best Dance of 2017.” Featuring music from Led Zeppelin and The Beach Boys, “Becomes the Rose” involved performers reciting poetry in groups or screaming out in pain while laying on the floor, performing as though crippled. The dancers took their time with the movements while each one evolved into a unique shape, such as keeping only one foot on the floor and dancing solely with their upper bodies.
Audience member and fourth-year Lang student Ryan Galowich, who had numerous friends in the show, summed up the experience.
“I’m really, really proud of my friends. I’ve seen them workshop this performance all semester. To see it from where it was when they started to where it is now, my main takeaway is that they are all really talented and persistent. They made something absolutely incredible,” Galowich said.
Greenberg, chair of the Arts at Lang, agreed. “The shows always surpass my expectations. Just a week ago, it hadn’t come to fruition like it did just now. A lot happens at the last week and this year was no exception,” he said.
