Spring Back, the dance department’s annual concert showcasing the work of some of Oberlin’s finest dancers and choreographers, opens this weekend in Warner Main Space. This year’s Spring Back offers two solo performances, a duet and several group pieces, all of which are original and entertaining. The concert demonstrates that the College arts scene is thriving, even within the smaller departments. The concert opens with “One More Time Now, With Feeling,” a piece for four women and two men. Choreographed by senior Nell Timreck, the piece is constructed so that the entire dance is performed twice: once with the dancers in rehearsal clothes and accompanied by a simple drumbeat, and a second time with the dancers wearing flashy red-and-black attire and using recorded music. This repetition makes the viewer question his or her perception — what seems mysterious and abstract changes drastically with the elements of costume and multi-instrumental accompaniment.

The piece’s choreography is fascinating with its sudden falls and rebounds. Unrelated events that occur simultaneously eventually develop into unisons. All of the dancers participate in playful and sometimes sensual duets with one another. A great moment in this piece is the intimate interaction between dancers Carter Love and Gideon Crevoshay. Love throws his leg over Crevoshay’s shoulder, initiating a duet with an erotic edge. To see two men engaging one another in this way is intriguing and original, as so many couple dances tend to be hetero-normative. “One More Time Now, With Feeling” is a riveting opening and a piece not easily forgotten.

Timreck’s piece is followed by a solo dance, “In Definition,” performed and choreographed by Elizabeth York. The piece’s beginning is haunting, as York appears dancing to an electric soundscape by John Bohnert, wearing a solid black costume and lit by a simple stream of white light from stage left. York is a compelling dancer who turns with precision and responds viscerally to the quirky manipulations of sound.

The major mood shifts in the piece are directed by color changes in the lighting — after the minimal white lights which begin the piece, the stage is flooded with red, then a warm golden brown. The progression of the dance and what emotion, if any, York is attempting to convey to the audience was slightly unclear. At times her movement seems sensual and unapologetically provocative, and at other times she seems to exist in her own introverted world. But the flow of York’s body is seamless, making her performance beautiful and stimulating.

The concert’s third piece is “Crazy Dog,” performed by four dancers from Oberlin Dance Company: Mara Poliak, Rebecca Shaykin, Elise Sipos and Nell Timreck. Sara Shelton Mann choreographed this dance between 1971-1972. Dance professor Carter McAdams first encountered this piece when he was a repertory dancer with a Cleveland company for which Mann was a guest choreographer. The piece is based around four characters, and the version performed by Oberlin students is derived from the improvisational movements of the original cast.

“Crazy Dog” is an unusual blend of contrasting movements and its characters seem mythic. Elise Sipos gives a convincing performance as a kind of stoic warrior, conveying her epic strength as she lifts and supports other characters. Mara Poliak, long-limbed and dressed in white, is striking as she portrays a kind of ethereal, sylph-like archetype. Set to music by Pink Floyd, “Crazy Dog” is difficult to describe and define, but I remained deeply interested in the piece for its duration.

Soloist/choreographer Anne Middleton opens the second half with “Confessions of a Twenty-Something Drama Queen,” a hilarious dance beginning with Middleton sitting on a bench, watching Genevieve Verrastro and Althea Lazzaro make a brief appearance as a romantic couple strolling through the park. Middleton’s tap dance that follows is a satirical outlook on what it means to be single. Set to “It’s Oh So Quiet” by Björk, the piece is theatrical, as Middleton conveys emotion through exaggerated movements and facial expressions. I laughed out loud in the moments in which light is thrown on Middleton and she bursts into dance. To see a tap piece in Spring Back adds variety to the concert, and Middleton’s humor is refreshing.

First-year Vanna Waldron and sophomore Mara Poliak choreographed and danced their piece, entitled “Hello...?” These women have created a dance that seems to be commenting on the nature of phone communication in modern culture. Poliak and Waldron, dressed in business-like skirts and collared shirts, play off of each others’ movements as if engaged in a telephone conversation. The piece comes to an unexpected ending, leaving the audience wanting more. Despite this fact, their performance is full of interesting quirks and marks the Oberlin debut of two energetic choreographers.

“Perplexity, or The Red Queen’s Hypothesis” by Abigail Wallace, the concert’s final dance, is loosely based on Alice in Wonderland, and includes an impressive cast of thirteen dancers. The dance begins with a single woman standing in a spotlight, which seems to represent a rabbit hole. Next there is a duet, and finally the whole group comes onstage. The spotlight reappears several times throughout the piece, with a different dancer highlighted each time. Sections of this piece were stellar, especially the extended sequence of movements that takes place when all the dancers finally enter the stage and the final unison. The piece appears incredibly well rehearsed, as the dancers are very sensitive to one another’s phrasing and timing. Moreover, simply seeing this many people dancing in Main Space was delightful.

This year’s Spring Back is a strong concert that highlights some of the dance department’s most impressive students. Even with the plethora of activities going on this weekend, this event is a must-see.

Spring Back runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in Warner Main Space. Tickets are available from CTS for $3 and at the door for $5.