Arts Runoff: SYNERGY

Senior work!

Summary: Senior dance performance of Alena Giesche, Cat Miller, Christian Morel, Heather Pynne. All three choreographed and danced, but Pynne’s actual thesis credit was for designing lights for 6 of the 8 pieces.

Since this show was affiliated the Symposium, I’ll just go through it liveblog-style, mentioning the eight pieces in the show with pluses and minuses:

• “Intro” / + improvved light and dance–and I had no clue until I looked at the program
• “Breaking” / + saw this one previously, was thrilled to see it again. Cat Campbell puts so much clarity and passion into what she does. / + loved the fuller lighting & tech design by Pynne.
• “Eros: A Terpsicorian Symposium” / – Didn’t hang together as well as it could; felt slightly like a medley. / + startled wake-up moment at the end: brilliant. / – Certain parts lost the struggle behind a showcase of Morel’s (admittedly amazing) technical skill.
• “and in the end we laugh” / + Geische and Jeremy Cline ’11.5 have CHEMISTRY. / +- The second half was better than the first because it felt more causal: one move led to the next more clearly.
• “A Generation Gap” / + Hilarious. Shows these talented people don’t take themselves too seriously. / + Brilliant mashup of cultural junk we all recognize.
• “Cluttered ‘Ships” / + Unified beachy aesthetic. / – lacked direction at times.
• “Restoration” / + Miller shines in a solo again, choreographed by Pynne. / + nice complement to “Breaking.”
• “I view you” / + Brilliant use of lights. Seriously. Not gonna spoil the surprise.

Contextual rating: If you have something important to do this weekend,
-…do it, and see this show if you can.
-…put it off and see this show.
-…skip it. See Synergy!! Granted, I’m no dance expert, but it’s hard to deny that this is great work. A wide variety that almost never lags, a good length (~1:30 including intermission). Fantastic lighting–and lighting matters when all Pynne has to work with are dancers, a bare floor and a back wall.

Synergy in the CFA dance theater. 8:00 Saturday. Tickets at the door. Large theater–seats remain.