Freebies!!!
Since coming to Iowa City, I have discovered how exciting the arts scene is here. If you’ve had the good fortune of having read my previous blog posts (hint, hint), you might be aware that in the three short months that I have been here, I attended over ten live readings at Prairie Lights Bookstore, watched several performances and productions, both hosted by and in collaboration with the University of Iowa and watched at least six events hosted by the Englert Theatre thanks to participating in the Honors: The Green Room course.
Just this weekend, I have been extremely lucky to participate in two free dance workshops and to have watched an amazing dance performance by the Ailey II dance company that stopped in Iowa City for about 24 hours before continuing with their tour. All of that was free! And AMAZING!!!
The first workshop was a contact improvisation masterclass led by Heidi Henderson, the artistic director of elephant JANE dance. Seven dancers, a combination of undergraduate and graduate students, attended and it was so much fun just letting loose and trying to dance the most ridiculous duets we could ever create. Seeing as dance is so much about perfection and looking our best all the time, it was wonderful to be able to dance without caring about being picture perfect all the time.
Three of the Ailey II dance company members, Corrin, Amarachi and Leo, taught us the second masterclass, on the same day as their performance at the Englert Theatre. I was one of the nine dancers there; two of them were even from a neighbouring university! The coolest part about the workshop was that we learned parts of the repertoire choreography, both those included in the live show and some “retired” ones. We even got to put together parts of their choreography in our own pieces that we performed in front of one another; it was very fun to show our individualism in the set choreography.
The Ailey II performance that night was fantastic. There were twelve dancers, all extremely muscular, lean and athletic in their dancing. The pieces that they were performing were extremely varied in choreography, emotions, partnership, costumes and so on. During the first few dances, the majority of the partnered dancing consisted of men with men or women with women. I found it very different from the norm and very liberating. The last piece consisted of more traditional partnering, but the dancing was so fast, clean and precise that it didn’t feel boring; the grins on their faces the entire time were so infectious!
Although participating in so many workshops and watching the Ailey II dance production in addition to the two Iphigenia musical shows that I had to perform put me behind on my homework, but it was definitely worth it. The theatre was crowded with the excited Iowa community, including many of my fellow dance majors at the university and professors!
And now…I gotta go and finish that homework that I neglected. I have an exam this week and two papers due… busy times.
Till next time! 🙂
Emily