THD Production Spotlight: Zodiaque Dance Company

By ALEX NOVAK

Looking for hard-hitting socio-political commentary, silly antics with newspapers, full-circle moments or a taptastic duet? Zodiaque Dance Company’s 49th season spring showcase provides all of that and more.

Running Feb. 29 to Mar. 3 in the UB Center for the Arts (CFA) Drama Theatre, the show stays true to the Dance Department’s motto that “versatility matters” but also lives up to it with exciting innovations. As Zodiaque approaches its 50th anniversary this fall, it’s no surprise that a company nearing five decades of dance would have fresh tricks up their sleeve to keep up with the times.

“danceSense,” a work choreographed by Artistic Director Kerry Ring, shines a spotlight on the company’s ability to bring modernity and classic dance steps together into one cohesive piece. The method: combining technique with technology.

As a collaborative piece between four UB professors, “danceSense” utilizes body sensors attached to the dancers. Based on the performers’ movements, the technical elements change. During each performance the body sensors work to create a “unique sound, light and video score” which constantly evolves depending upon the data collected and processed.

“This is an experimental piece. Each night is a different sort of visual experience for the audience,” Ring said. “It's a good experience for our students to be involved in because it's a different approach to having an end product.”

In the company’s final dress rehearsal, a beautifully bizarre soundscape of wind chimes, drums, cracking sounds, canine panting, robot noises, maracas and more accompanied the elegant movements. Whenever the dancing stopped, silence set in.

One particularly stunning vignette utilized long silks as a prop, jutting out from one dancer on multiple ends before turning into a single flowing fabric reminiscent of a bridal train. This was complemented by ever-changing lights and visuals, including a paint splotch-like backdrop, and a radiant sun with waving rays.

“The technical elements-I think the lighting in particular-help to create the environment the dancers are in. They help to tell the story,” Lowden Flower, a junior theatre technical design major who worked on the lighting, said. “[They do] a wonderful job of that, turning a dance piece into an art piece.”

The technical know-how behind “danceSense” make it one of the performance’s most hypnotizing, abstract pieces. “We're really happy to be showcasing our collaborative effort with design technology and all of the students who are helping us elevate the look of the concert,” Ring said. “And we're really happy to have a point where we can reflect on the past… and then look to the future.

“It's an identifying part of the company now, this whole layer of technology. We're really proud of that.”

Freelance writer Alex Novak is a senior English major, with a minor in theatre performance.