Melissa Tran

DANCE 1500
4/20/16
THE FORCES AWAKEN

I attended the Force performance by the SLCC dance company. SLCC put on
a performance of many different forms of dance as well as music. Everyone
who was involved with the performance were very detailed, from the bright
lights, to the dark colors, to the videos made, the sound effects, and the
costume design was thought thoroughly. It was an emotional roller coaster,
from sweet inspirations to dance, to reason why dance was so important, to
the good life by the river, to heavy metal solos. Different varieties of props
were used to set the scene each fitting perfectly in the story such as picture
frames, tables and chairs at a jazz club, to chairs to tango with, and a pier
keeping the performers on top of the water.

One of the dances that was done used balloons as a prop. The lights were
dim, and the main colors were varieties of blue, white and grey. The lights
seemed to be on each of the dancers, no spotlights were stolen, each dancer

had their part in the performance, each dancer had important significances
to the dance. The dance was made up of all female dancers. Their hair was
all in buns, as though they wanted to keep the shoulders visible to show off
their beautiful laced shirts, and their long toned arms. Their costumes were
white, laced floral crop tops, and the skirts were worn above their belly
button, very flowing. The movements were very soft, and seemed to flow
with ease. The skirts flowed with each movement as though a fan was put in
front of the stage. The skirts reminded me of wind, as though their legs were
the wind and the arms were the stable part of their body.

The balloons were a lovely touch to the dance. All the balloons, evenly blown
up to the same size. The dancers danced with the balloons, and used them
as a stage prop as well. They timed their steps along with their balloon. The
timing on how high to toss the balloon to how soft to toss the balloon was
very carefully calculated.

The performance was slow, and had a peaceful feeling to it. The flow of the
skirts, to the flow of the balloon tied everything together. Fluidity filled the
stage, but also precision. The dance gave off a feeling of peacefulness, as
the lighting helped keep the audience intrigued with the movements of the
dancers, from the tip of their head, to the point of their toes. The light
shinning down at the balloon made it seem as though the dancers were

playing with bubbles. The dance kept your eyes sealed on every movement
made. If I could explain the dance, I would say that it was as if the dancers
were leaves on a tree, and the balloons were light airy bubbles floating
around gracefully, gently touching each leaf they come across, and slowly
rolling onto another leaf, slowly, each by each till they touched the ground,
which was the end of the performance.

The second dance I chose to write about is Last Days of Summer, music by
Otis Redding. The stage was prepped with wooden dock, the background was
of a country side; nice bright back ground, the stage was lit up brightly. The
background had blue skies, nice grassy area, with yellow flowers lining the
horizon. You can smell the flowers, and the hay, and grass mixed into one.
The overwhelming feeling of happiness and joy come across, as the scene is
being set up, you can tell that something happy is going to happen. The
stage is set, theres males and females in this dance number. The women are
in dresses, the men are in khakis rolled up, with white buttoned up long
white sleeved shirts, with nice collars, but the shirt isnt buttoned up all the
way, they have suspenders on, and a old fashioned hats on. It gave a sense
of In the good Ol days type of feeling. There are a even number of men
and women, as though theyre couples, good friends, and they are all at the
river hanging out with each other on a hot summer weekend, enjoying each

others company. I got a sense of the end of summer coming soon, not sure
why, probably because thats when you have the most fun, because you are
trying to soak everything in before school starts again.

The music starts, a man is whistling, and the performers are swaying back
and fourth. You cant help but feel the happiness and fun about this scene,
their swaying motion makes you want to sway as well, you want to feel the
music as they are.

The performers jump and leap, the women jump into the mens arms, some
are lifted about their heads and carried away on the mans shoulder. The
dancers had partners and they stayed with one another, it might have
symbolized each other as couples. Towards the end of the performance, all
the couples were off the stage, and two women, sitting parallel to one
another were left on the sea deck whistling and swaying, as though they
were the very last ones to stay and soak in the amazing day they had with
their friends down by the river

I enjoyed the concert very much. It lasted about 2 hours, and so worth it. It
wasnt disappointing at all. They showed many variations of dances, and
different music, different dance styles were presented. From nice smooth,

classical, to jazz, head banging, to hip hop, to ballet, and modern. Each
dance had its own costume design, each unique, and colorful. The colors
contrasted with the scenery and fit right with the music that was chosen.
They had all female performance, to all male performance, to every single
person who was involved in any of the dances dance all together in the
finale. There were many emotions involved throughout the show. Moments of
love, lust, hope, joy, fear, sorrow, hopelessness, to feeling revolutionized.
SLCC put on an amazing show, and I would recommend it to anyone who has
2 hours to spare to watch this work of art.