Lights up. Bodies on the floor swell, twisting to eerie music that streams downward. This is the setting for Fall Forward 2001, a concert that presents an eclectic mix of movement and dance styles, all choreographed by a variety of students as well as visiting artist Leslie Dworkin (OC ’85).

The show begins with Dworkin’s piece “The North Rim.” Dworkin presents an elegant style of choreography and varies the flow with more mechanistic movements. Dancers move together easily as though they were part of the music. The piece varied between concentrated spurts of movement and stillness. Parts of the piece became slightly tedious, but on the whole, the dance was intriguing and the costumes were well chosen.

Sophomore Andree Tzall choreographed the second piece, entitled “Once, When.” Tzall uses interesting patterns and make nice use of lifts. The dance is modern and extremely packed with movement, though at times slightly repetitive or out of sync. The dancers in the piece seem very connected; their movement has a nice fluidity that seems to carry the piece.
Senior Mary Moran choreographed two pieces in Fall Forward, the first of which, Fuel, is a duet with senior Juliana May, and the second, “Finding Face,” a solo. Moran choreographed both pieces last year and specifically created “Fuel” as a duet for herself and May.

“Juliana and I have danced together for four years now and I wanted to challenge us,” Moran said. “Fuel” functions much like the inner workings of a machine, in constant motion, with both unison and weightsharing partnering sequences.”

Moran’s dances are filled with unique choreography and sensual movement, which is both intricate and fast-paced. “Finding Face” is an emotional piece, using striking and almost puppet-like movement as Moran dances around a piano and the lights flash in various positions.
The Aicha Middle Eastern Dance troupe performs a belly dancing routine titled “Isis” choreographed by junior Adriane Dellorco. The dancers move in a circular pattern around Dellorco, using veils to frame their movements. Dellorco plays the finger cymbals and manages to use rhythmic, sensual movements to draw focus to the circle’s center. However, at times the veils make it hard to see the dancers’ actual movements and obscures the center of the circle pattern. Overall, the dance is colorful and enjoyable and the costuming is exquisite.
“I tried to create a dance that focused on the group as a whole,” Dellorco said. “In this piece I wanted to emphasize the joy and camaraderie of Middle Eastern dance among women. Belly dancing has brought the women in our troupe very close, and I hope the sense of community we have created will be apparent in our piece.”

Senior Loren Groenendaal’s piece, “Unrequited Memory,” was choreographed to music by Bjork. The dance begins with lyrical, snakelike movements and moves to a more upbeat tone. Groenendaal incorporated cartwheels and sharp movements as well as many structures and patterns. The dancing is quite intricate, with circling arms and weaving gestures. Once or twice some of the faster movements seem to take away from the sensitive style. The piece is graceful and original.

Fall Forward finishes with a piece choreographed by the group And What? who dance to Ni’Ja Whitson’s hip-hop piece, “Hip is Hop Ain’t.” Whitson starts with a definition of hip-hop dance and its origin. The dance is filled with high energy, sharp movements that pull the audience in. It ends with the dancers stomping out multiple beats as well as talking in rhythm. The dance is outstanding.
“I am proud of all the artists, dancers, and crew,” Elesa Rosasco, faculty advisor to Fall Forward said. “This concert represents all the talent that exists in a small place; not the entire community, but the people who audition, and work for the venue and mix the shows. There is a lot of strength and love for dance here.”

Fall Forward 2001 will be held in Warner Mainspace Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m.