Six dance pieces,
choreographed by
University
professors, give
students a chance to
strut their stuff in
the renovated
Dougherty Dance
Theatre
By Jack Clifford
Oregon Daily Emerald
The art of dance is such an emo
tional undertaking on its own, one
can only imagine what levels of
passion and sentiment will be
reached this weekend in the
Dougherty Dance Theatre during
“Dance 2000... for Dr. D.”
The six-piece performance
serves as the annual showcase for
the University dance depart
ment’s faculty and doubles as a
dedication to the late M. Frances
Dougherty, founder of the depart
ment and a leader in dance educa
tion in Oregon. Dougherty retired
from the University in 1974 and
died last November at the age of 88
in Tucson, Ariz.
“Dr, Dougherty would be very
pleased about the level of profes
sionalism in the show, ” says Jenifer
Craig, current head of the dance de
partment. Craig was also one of
Dougherty’s students and
Dougherty served as Craig’s thesis
instructor. “She had a vision about
making it possible for people to
learn the professional, technical,
academic, spiritual [aspects],
everything about dance, based on
dance as a performing art.
“We still work with her philoso
phy.”
“Dance 2000” certainly seems
to cover the range of perspectives
on Craig’s stated list of Dougher
ty’s musings.
Audience members will soak in
everything from assistant dance
professor Pamela Geber’s dancer
rich offering titled “The Ambrosia
of Amnesia” — which centers on
16 dancers twirling about in duets
and trios, motivated by two tangos
by Argentine composer Astor Pia
zolla — to a saucy solo perform
ance by assistant professor Amy
Stoddart.
Stoddart’s dance piece, choreo
graphed by dance senior instruc
tor omerita Susan Zadoff, is titled
“Encounter in Solitude” and is in
fluenced by tango and flamenco.
Stoddart calls it a “very difficult,
10-minute, throw-myself-around
the-stage piece.”
Stoddart also choreographed
___
“Transfiguration,” which features
an ensemble of nine dancers en
pointe, a rather uncommon feat,
Craig says.
Stoddart laughs when asked
about her double duty as dancer
and choreographer.
“It’s total split personality and a
little bit of schizophrenia,’ she
says.
As a dancer, however, Stoddart
doesn’t have to worry about the
lights or sound, and says, “I can just
do it, and I’m really free that way. ”
On the other hand, Stoddart ad
mits that it’s sometimes hard to get
into the mindset of a performer
and still be a support for her
dancers in getting them prepared
their roles in “Ttansfiguration,”
which took approximately 60
horns of preparation over the past
10 weeks to perfect.
The story of “Transfiguration” is
a common ballet theme, Stoddart
says, similar to one of a toymaker
who locks up the shop at night, al
lowing the toys inside to come
alive, before they return to an inan
imate state the next morning.
This piece subsitutes puppets
for toys and emulates a German
puppet show called “Puppen Kor
per.” Stoddart chose a medley of
electronic music arranged by John
Schaefer, a friend of hers who
lives in Boulder, Colo., to stimu
late the metamorphosis.
The “puppets kind of break out
of their shell, break out of their
skin and then are very free and
dancing in the rainforest, dancing
in this mist kind of feeling, ” Stod
dart explains. “There were images
in a magazine article I saw of two
headed women and lots of extra
arms and fingers everywhere, and
that inspired me quite a bit. ”
The focus becomes fairly de
tailed during the piece, she says,
with dancers examining their fin
gers and then transforming that
concentration into “more supple
ness and freedom in the chest and
torso.”
Senior dance major Laura Nash
leads the ensemble through its
movements and she appreciates
the contrast in dynamics, from
stilted to free. Nash says she al
lows herself to really let go during
the freer moments in the piece,
and her mind wanders to a more
abstract place.
“I am thinking about eating up
space with my body and letting en
ergy flow out all of my limbs, so that
the movements lookreally big,” she
says, describing her approach. “I’m
sort of imagining that ‘This is my
time, this is me in my element, this
is everything I can be.
Stoddart’s third choreographed
contribution to “Dance 2000” is
“The Sleeper,” a distorted ballet
based piece, woven with symbolic
gestures.
One of Stoddart’s colleagues,
Steven Chatfield, took a more
down-to-earth path to reach his
desired result in “Bending Red
woods.” Segmented into four sep
arate scenes — called “Bio Cou
ple,” “Dwelling,” “Bending
Redwoods” and “Bio Couple”
again—this material has a simple
inspiration: nature.
“It’s about the nature of humanity,
the nature of the earth, the nature of
the elements and the harmonies of
those things,” Chatfield says.
Two dancers, Wind Kim and
Dawn Tuman, moving to an origi
nal score by associate music pro
fessor Jeffrey Stolet, contort and
twist around each other’s bodies
during the movement. Starkly
dressed in black and bathed in a
soft light, the pair take on a “na
ture spirit” quality, Kim says.
“We needed to really familiar
ize ourselves with each other’s
bodies, instead of letting that hap
pen on stage,” he says, sharing re
hearsal techniques. Kim has been
dancing for 10 years in the com
munity, and he performs with sev
eral modem dance companies in
town. He enjoys alighting on cam
pus to work with what he calls a
“comparable” level of talent to
professional dancers.
“Here [at the University], you
have a variety of styles, whereas in
the community each company has
its own look and style,” Kim says.
“It can be pretty eclectic here on
campus because you have so many
All Dance 2000 photos Catharine Kendall Emerald
Laura Nash (center) leads nine dancers in "Transfiguration” a dance choreographed
by assistant dance professor Amy Stoddart.
individuals choreographing. ”
Chatfield agrees with Kim’s per
ception, adding that “Dance
2000” is not a coordinated body of
work per se, but it is more the
“next step in every choreograph
er’s personal progression. ”
“For a dance professor, this
show is tantamount to a publica
tion in a journal and so basically
is just a reflection of the ongoing
nature of our research,” he ex
plains. “Each one of us has accu
mulated ideas and material and
ways of working that have led us
these pieces in particular.”
One piece in “Dance 2000,”
Geber’s “Within,” premiered in
fall 1999. That work uses two
large frames to create dancer snap
shots for the audience.
“This particular concert has re
ally strong dancing—I don’t want
to say that it’s the strongest ever—
but it’s a really good representa
tion of the range of dance that we
see in our students and the chore
ography is very strong,” Craig
says. “It’s just a really solid show. ”
Craig is anticipating quite a
flood of memories before and af
ter the three weekend perform
ances. She expects a mini-reunion
with dance alums in attendance
and is also excited to unveil to the
public renovations made to the
Dougherty Dance Theatre. A new,
comfortable seating system has re
placed a 20-year-old set of bleach
ers, cultivating what Craig calls “a
true dance theater environment.”
“In some ways [‘Dance 2000’
and the renovations] are starting a
new era, but we’re also remember
ing where we come from and how
we got this far and how much fur
ther we can take this,” Stoddart
says.
Although Dougherty will not be
in attendance to see the transfor
mations and these new concepts
carried out on the dance floor,
Craig laughs when she imagines
that “Dr. D.” will be watching
from somewhere anyway.
“And she probably has a couple
of criticisms for me, which I’ll take
if I could just hear them. ”
“Dance 2000” opens Friday
night at 8 in Gerlinger Annex. Two
Saturday shows are scheduled for
2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are $6 for
students and senior citizens, with
general admission priced at $10.
A reception to honor Dougherty
will be held in Alumni Lounge af
ter the evening performance on
Feb. 26.