Heaven On One's Head: A Dance By Pam Tanowitz

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Heaven on One’s Head On the 4th of March at 7:30 PM I had the chance to attend one of the main performances in the Victoria J. Mastrobuono Theater at the Mason Gross Preforming Arts Center. The ticket was a under the general admission as I wanted to get a general view of the dances that are performed here for my course work. However, I ended up being taken away by the level of intrigue that the dances bring to the audience. This is the kind of place that one will visit even when they are not on an official assignment from the lecturers. It gives the audience the thrill of feeling the dances right from their seats regardless of the position in the theater. One of the dances that stood out for me was the Heaven on One’s Head. With a combination of the moves, the style, music, lighting and most importantly the costume, the stage came alive and so the thrill among the audience. This is a dance that choreographed by Pam Tanowitz. There performers for the dance were, Gabriel DeRego, Kristen Fry, Nina Guevara, Karolina Holstrom, Kristina Kong, Ying-Yu Lin, Charles Arthur Milliken, sawyer Newsome, Amelina Sagrabb, Isabella Vergar. The understudy was Karoina Holmstrom. The rehearsal directors of the dance were Melissa Toogood and Vincent McCloskey. The music that was featured on the dance was a string Quartets number one and three by Colon Nancarrow. To bring alive the performance the dancers were clad in a costume that was designed by Cleo Mack and the lighting on the stage was by Sue Barr. The first thing that jumped out on me was the fact that, the dancers were fairly balanced on stage, with three men and four women. This is a small cast and allows the audience to interact with all the dance members individually and even as a group on the stage. It is easy to follow one single dancer on the stage with much ease. However, the fun of the dance comes with the level of coordination that is brought out by the entire team (Macaulay). The coordination between the dancers, gives the audience the seamless transition between the different moves that the choreographer intended. It is interesting to note that some of the dance moves are a signature of the choreographer, Tanowitz (Scherr). This is especially the memorable footwork of the dancers on the stage, the witty combination of the lower and upper body movements among the dancers with striking elegance, as well as the fascinating, complex and subtle uses of the stage space. Everything comes together in a manner that is imply mesmerizing. The dance is brought to life by four main elements that were quite striking, the music, the moves, lighting and the music. In the case of the music, there is a calm and yet inviting appeal to dance along. This gave the moves on the stage life and background, especially considering that some of the moves on the stage were quite complex (Scherr). The moves on the other hand mimic what one would think of as angels dancing. The movement of the winged motion of the hands as they flap around and move about the stage were intriguing. They...