WELCOME

Welcome to the Urban Culture course at Avila University created by Susan Lawlor and Dotty Hamilton.  We travel with our students to great cities to explore art museums, engage with the architecture, study the local film and music venues, and experience the ethnic enclaves as a way to learn about the culture of urban spaces and the interaction of art and environment.  It's a fun, intense learning environment.  

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Danse X Montreal

The evening ended with a performance of three duets curated by Danse X Montreal.  Experimental dance  that was a perfect bookend to the morning abstract art tour.  A truly international event with performers from Japan, Korea and the United States.  The discussion after the dancing was held in four languages.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 20, 2013 at 3:29 PM

    This was the most enlightening and inspiring of the trip in my opinion. I've never been one to seek out dance performances to attend "just because" so I'm glad this was part of the itinerary. The first duet started out and I had a "oh man, what is this" kind of feeling, but as it went on I felt like I was completely engaged and really appreciating the emotions and the reason behind the movements that the performers made. The second dance was my favorite. I'm glad they explained the importance of the objects used in the dance--otherwise I would have been left completely in the dark. I think the male captured more of my attention because of all of the moves he did, the physical ability and talent required of him. The way he flipped his partner around and kept a fluid performance was amazing. The last performance was the most entertaining, I really loved the eye contact between the two dancers and the music in this piece. Even though the translation was limited in the after discussion, I can appreciate all of the thought and plans that went into this performance and the skills needed to carry it out. I have a much larger appreciation for dance as a way of expression after seeing this show and I hope to see more in the future.

    -Michelle M.

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    1. Dotty HamiltonMay 21, 2013 at 4:59 AM

      So happy you liked this challenging performance. I, also, thought it was beautiful. Seeing the Japanese dancers in the airport was really thrilling. We got to tell them personally how much we enjoyed their artistry.

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  2. UnknownMay 21, 2013 at 8:25 AM

    Wow, this dance show was definitely unlike any other dance shows I've been apart of or have seen. The first couple engaged me with their mirroring moves and no music. I found myself counting with them while they were dancing. I think that is just the dancer in me though! They were able to draw in the audience without music and that is very impressive to me. I have always danced with music because music guides the dancer and the beats foreshadows what he dancer will be doing next. They were the most impressive in my opinion! All in all it was an amazing performance and I wish I could see them all dance together like they will be doing later in the tour.

    Rosemary V.

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  3. UnknownMay 21, 2013 at 9:02 PM

    I, like Rose, found this to be one of the most unique dance performances I have ever seen. I'm definitely one to seek out dance performances in the Kansas City area and very much enjoy dance and musical theatre both as a participant and audience member but this was something totally different than anything I have ever seen. I was fortunate enough to understand a very tiny bit of the french introduction so I had the gist of what the concept was with the three different companies coming together with similar works of art before the performance began. The first number had me confused for the first couple minutes, I had a really hard time even breathing because I felt like the atmosphere was so delicate. However, I did find it to be the most intriguing number because I have never seen a dance that long (roughly 20 minutes) performed without music. I especially loved the costumes because they truly did enhance the ability to see the contours of their bodies and the lines they created with their movement. For the second dance I had an entirely different interpretation than they intended but then again, that's the beauty of art. I found the third company the be the most lively and most expressive. The third style of modern dance is the modern that I am most familiar with which may be why afterwards I claimed for it to be my "favorite." Looking back, the first number was most definitely the most memorable and most incredible dance I have ever seen. Although I knew going in that it was three different modern dance companies, I would have never guessed that because all of their movements and numbers were similar. They had distinct movements and purposeful and statements or topics they were trying to explore through movement. Lastly, I really enjoyed the question and answer in four language at the end. Maybe this is the wishful linguist in me, but I adore languages and loved the constant challenge of digging out the french in the back of my mind and putting it to good use.

    Kristina

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