Passion Through Dance

By Danielle Ertle
SC Staff Writer

The beauty of dance, since its beginning in the 15th century and through King Louis XIV “Sun King” spread of dance’s beauty and grace in France during the 17th century, it has become one of the world’s most precious passions. East Stroudsburg University was kind enough to give this passion to the student body and public for three days from November 15 through the 17.

Each performance had its own spectacular story or abstract art form to present to the audience with every step and movement breathtaking to every beat of each music piece chosen for this special show. The first performance was ReinVENion performed by Miranda Barbieri and Michelle Zbinden, whose timing was impeccable going from slow to fast since there was lots of twisting, bent and low movements in the arms and legs, with their facial expressions showing what the music felt to them, along with uplifting the audience with every note going from slow, then faster and faster, becoming more upbeat as they finish their performance.

Followed by this performance was Le Releve Comique performed by a number of dancers. This piece was acted out as a story, with the audience watching a sort of a reenactment of the film Center Stage during the final dance scene. The dancers stood out the most from this performance using many facial expressions and hand gestures almost in a robot like format.

These facial expressions and hand gestures used went well along with the music that was slow at first but became more upbeat as the dancers raced around the stage, captivating the audience’s attention; laughter burst out from everyone that watched.

After this performance of laughter and fun, came the next one, Autumn, performed by Professor Elizabeth Gibbons. It was absolutely breathtaking. It felt close to the heart, so beautiful and had a sense of sadness to it as well.

The music brought a sense of nostalgia to the audience, a remembrance of past love or memories, and the rhythm was slow and elegant, with her movements graceful, smooth and expressive, almost like a leaf, hence the title of the performance.

When this beautiful performance was finished, the next one was called, Dynamics, which had such sharp, smooth and expressive movements with music that was fast and upbeat, giving the audience a sense that danger was coming and the dancers had nowhere else to go, and the last thing they could do before the danger came was to dance one last time with all they had.

Every dancer was in motion together, all of them becoming more abstract towards the middle of the dance, but the way they all moved as one, the dancers still made every movement look so smooth and simple—effortless.

The girls who performed in The Threads of Friendship had the best facial expressions, with happy, carefree faces. Their arms and legs stood out the most, with graceful and smooth movements, with their costumes colorful and bright. The laughter that went along with this performance was sort of unnerving as it was a little too playful and forced coming out of the girls, and not many of those in the audience laughed along with them, which was what they wanted as they were showing the true color of friendship.

Email Danielle at:
dertle@live.esu.edu