Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Dance and Choreography invites you to FINESSE, a virtual performance experience featuring the senior capstone projects of five emerging performers and choreographers.
Thursday + Friday, April 22 + 23, 2021
7:00 pm EST via Zoom: https://vcu.zoom.us/j/99251029141
FREE
The Fab Five Seniors would like to introduce you to FINESSE!, a filmed production that will showcase their hard work and dedication, rather than the usual live, in-person showcase. Since their entrance into VCU Dance, they’ve finessed their way through the college experience to get to arrive at their culminating projects, now in the time of Covid. From an unorthodox Freshman Repertory showing, to entering with a class of 14 and ending with 5, to now giving you an unparalleled Senior Project experience, we are the true definition of finesse.
How can we escape the seemingly inescapable? In a solo performance choreographed by Eric Rivera (assistant professor of Dance and Choreography), Alisha Agrawal explores the sense of urgency we may currently feel to return to the relative normalcy of the past or to jump ahead to a time when today’s roadblocks are behind us. En el Vació highlights the struggle to adapt and persevere when unexpected events occur on our individual and collective journeys through life.
Prepare to experience a three-part exploration of self and music, through the lens of a music broadcasting channel. In VIBELYST, Farron Anderson highlights the strong connection we humans have with music and how self develops from those ties. As Anderson’s film moves through multiple music environments, the dancers embody changing characters that reflect different facets of culture and expression.
“Geminis are two-faced…” In underrated Syd Gee seeks to dispel this misconception and explore the duality within a Gemini’s personality. Being a Gemini herself, Syd Gee has been called two-faced, untrustworthy and sneaky, when the topic of astrology is brought up. There’s the idea of presenting one emotion while suppressing another, and throughout the film, she plans to show how similar choreography (through varying styles of dance) can differ when expressing contrasting emotions. Gee wants to give the audience an exclusive look at her firsthand reactions, throughout different stages of her life (including love and grief).
Have you ever lived out a nightmare before? In Nightmare, Erica Glover will guide you on a journey with six dancers exploring their nightmares, evoking the fear, confusion and pain that they experienced. Think you can handle the pressure?
In LAW 5, N’dea Harris explores her life experiences through the looking glass of movement. She is working with the study of the Law of Attraction: a philosophy suggesting that positive thoughts bring positive results into a person’s life, while negative thoughts bring negative outcomes. The dance explores positive and negative thoughts, ideas, and situations that she’s personally gone through. There will be a constant battle between the dancers as they move through experiences.
FINESSE is the seventh event of the 2020-2021 performance season, a series of virtual events created under COVID protocols and in the spirit of innovation and connection. This season is made possible in part by generous support from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.