John Niemi will present "Snapshots," a modern dance concert created to help finish his master's degree in dance, next week in the Chapel Dance Studio in Capital Hall on the Tenley campus. According to Niemi, the concert "illustrates moments in time and space captured in dance (through) movement, music, voice and text."
The concert is aptly titled "Snapshots" because the camera and its outputs are the guiding metaphor of the performance. Through its 14 works, many of which are miniatures - brief glimpses into a world, the five dancers offer a glimpse into both their personal worlds and Niemi's history. The dancers, led by AU's Ann Norris and Sherrill Lilly, include community members Fatima Khokhar, and Penelope and Sarah Handza.
"The process became about the ensemble and developing the relationships with the ensemble," though it started with discrete choreographic ideas, Niemi said. Some of the concepts behind the pieces are "snapshots" from Niemi's personal history, while others are simply movement ideas.
The concert is threaded together by the repetition of "I Am" dances by all the performers. These brief interludes serve as interstitial splicing between the longer dances to introduce the dancer's personalities. Through both spoken text and movements, the dancers present themselves to the audience one by one. The most successful of the "I Am" dances are the simplest; as the dances get more complex and become more twisted and filled with motion, viewers lose sight of the personality behind the movement. But when the motions are straightforward, as most are, the "I Am" sections feel like a good conversation - direct, funny and sometimes poignant.
The dance "Impulse/ Effort," set to the Kronos Quartet's playing of Steve Reich, blooms around the stage. Dancers are picked up and dropped off from corners and sides of the stage as the energy ricochets between solos, duets, trios and the full company. The movement is simple - a reaching out and a pulling back with the hips and a swinging leg, but the individuals embody it well, and the momentum of the music is carried fully through the dance.
In "Tango/ Focus/ Curve/ Line," the dancers, in blood-red skirts and black tops, explore not simply the movements of tango but the sensuous aspects of touch and reaction. As the dance evolves from the whole company to duets and then to solos, the movement becomes more personal.
"Open Space. Sometimes Places," is a new work by guest choreographer Helanius J. Wilkins, artistic director of Edgeworks Dance. Aside from the opening section of the concert, this is the only time the audience sees concert director John Niemi dance, and Wilkins puts him through a workout. Niemi is graceful, like a large egret swooping down in a swamp, his form rippling and diving across the stage in arcs, reaching out and pulling in, only to sit or stand quietly, waiting for the next moment to catch up. The piece evokes a sense that Niemi is living through a memory that is pushing against his skin from the inside. About halfway through the piece he catches up with it - he arrives in the moment. From there it is pure movement. Regarding the process of this concert, Niemi said, "Now I'm more experiencing and not observing my life."
Niemi danced folk dances with his parents growing up and began formal training at age 18. He completed his undergraduate degree at Luther College in Iowa. After a stint in Milwaukee, he moved to Chicago where he studied and performed with Joe Hall and Doug Wood, while pursuing a master's degree at the University of Chicago in policy analysis and community organizing. Niemi is currently the administrator of five doctorate programs in the biological sciences at George Washington University. He has worked - and danced - throughout his various academic endeavors.
"Snapshots" offers glimpses into moments of life that might otherwise go unnoticed. There is something for everybody in this concert. Some audience members will connect with the more immediately recognizable sections: the piece about 9-11, a piece about the Metro. Others may be drawn to the more subtle shadings of "Alone, because I was," a piece in response to Matthew Sheppard, or "Open Spaces. Sometimes Places." But it is clear that Niemi has succeeded in providing an evening's performance that captures a moment in space and time.
The show will take place Nov. 13 - 15 at 8 p.m. in the Chapel Dance Studio in Capital Hall, Tenley Campus. General admission costs $10. Students, seniors and children get in for $5. For reservations, e-mail msdjan@gwumc.edu or call (202) 463-3071.
