A Step in the Right Direction - Dancing Uphill Review

Dancing Uphill, an annual dance showcase put on by the University of Vermont School of the Arts dance company has a successful and well-received opening night on Wednesday, February 5th. Running from the 5th to the 8th, this intricate performance featured 12 separate dances, ranging in duration from approximately 7-10 minutes. Although there were a variety of choreographers, including several alumni, many dances were headed by faculty choreographers Paul Besaw, Millie Heckler, and Julie Peoples-Clark. Paul Besaw was also the artistic director of this performance, and one notable alumni choreographer was Shani Collins. 

I attended this performance on opening night as an assignment for a class, and therefore I bought a student ticket. I paid $7.25 for a student ticket - not much to most, but significant if you depend on a treat from Jamal’s Chicken every week. So, was it worth it? 

I’ve personally never been an avid fan of contemporary dance, however, I looked forward to this performance from the perspective of someone without any prior bias and with a premeditated respect for the artistic talent of the dancers in this program. I left the performance with a similar understanding; as I’d suspected, I didn’t fully enjoy most of the pieces. They either felt too long or too odd for me to understand and dig. However, I did appreciate the artistic and creative minds behind the choreography, costuming, set pieces, and lighting, which made the dances come to life.

Lighting was truly queen in this show; every dance utilized not only every inch of the small stage but every color and angle the light could make to enhance the show. One performance did this on a whole different level of impressive. The most jarring dance in the showcase, In the Back of My Mind, was a dance choreographed, performed, and directed by senior Olivia Newman. The second dance instantly caught the audience’s attention with its bright green light shining right on the dancer. Clothed in black and doing acrobatic and spider-like movements, this dance was both creepy and hauntingly beautiful in a way that captivated the audience and shocked us into silence. More than the light and her movements, her timing was perfected to punctuate the whispers, which acted as her music, perfectly, creating an even more effective act. It was truly sensational, calculated, shocking, and beautiful. 

Costuming also played a key role in this show, as unlike a musical, dancers rely on their bodies and movements to express emotion, intent, and meaning. This showcase definitely did not lack flare, and the costuming for each song was carefully crafted and well-met. While not all the costumes I thought were particularly beautiful, perhaps I simply didn’t understand what they were conveying. They certainly seemed to serve each purpose needed, and they did not lack professionalism or expertise. One piece in particular that I thought utilized costuming extremely well was in the second to last performance, What’s in your pants?!, choreographed, designed, and performed by senior Andy Maxwell Logan. Starting out unassuming, the dancer began alone on stage dressed in what seemed like several mismatched jackets and pieces, accompanied by a set that resembled a living room. Aside from being the one and only dance to feature set pieces like these, I was automatically curious as to what Logan would do with them. Soon into the dance, the music shifted, and Logan approached the audience; the lights came up, and one by one he pulled audience members to assemble a team of 5 and arrange them on stage. Meticulously, they stripped costume pieces off their person and layered them randomly to stop the pulled audience members until they were down to boxers and a tank top. This not only was random and funny and entertaining, but artistic and layered, and overall very enjoyable and impressive to watch. 

From the perspective of someone not looking to analyze contemporary dance and read the emotions, but simply be entertained by artistic talent for 2 hours, the highlight of the show for me was a piece called A Revelry of Frogs. And it was exactly what it sounds like. When their time came up, a group of 12 dancers hopped onto the stage, clad in subtle green costuming and not-so-subtle green frog hats, and brought a fun and exciting dance to the stage. Definitely less serious than those that preceded and followed, this dance also featured fun music and exciting choreography, working in a bit of a synchronized group as you’d see in a musical compared to the other acts that night. Featuring the musical pieces “Going Up the Country” by Canned Heat and “Blow Up A-Go-Go!” by James Clarke,  senior dancer Owen Kupferer closed the dance lip-synching to Liza Minelli’s “Joe Tex”, which, paired with the fun dancing choreographed around that number, extracted whoops of laughter and appreciation from audience members and friends. In terms of entertainment factors, this piece exceeded all the others, but this was definitely not the only enjoyable piece; every side dance this night had something likable on it, whether it was the choreography, music, costuming, lighting, or the dancer as an actor. 

This show was instantly immersive, with the first dancers entering onto the stage with their water bottles, clad in warm-up attire, and nonchalantly motioned for the music to start. Then they eased into a synchronized dance. Focusing on 3 groups of 2, keeping the audience on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what came next, and seamlessly opening the show without any mishaps. While unsuspecting at first, this dance, titled Camp, Dance, Tramp, was mesmerizing to watch as the dancers moved synchronously around each other in mirrored movements, briefly interrupted by a party sequence that broke the stunned silence from the audience and elicited quite a few chuckles. This piece was the perfect choice for an opener as it eased the audience into the showcase and immediately proved their professionalism and talent.

Something that can definitely be noted for all actors and performers on this night was their impeccable professionalism. What the music they danced to lacked in words, their actions and bodies made up for with ease and experience. When the audience made noise or was completely silent, they didn’t falter or break character; they were looking in on completing the dances they had worked so hard to learn and doing so without fail every time. One instance in the show that really highlighted the dancer’s professionalism was during the aforementioned frog dance, in which I noticed halfway through the dance, that one of the dancer’s frog hats had slipped over her eyes. However, she did not fix it or move it, even when her back was facing the audience, as I’d expected; she knew the dance, movements, and blocking so well she didn’t need her sight to kill the piece. 

Before seeing this performance, I had thought that dance showcases were a here-and-there event; here we are, in the audience, silent little mice watching the show, and there they are, beautiful dancers on stage, separate and whole. This perception was broken soon into this showcase, in which several of the pieces held eye contact with the audience or looked straight out, creating an effect that felt like breaking the fourth wall, as if we were being discovered for hiding and now we were caught. In a good way, of course. It schooled the audience into paying attention, regressing the length of the piece or the style of dance it was. I didn’t feel the urge to look at my phone or check the time for the entire length of the performance, save to check the time during intermission.

Although not my cup of tea per se, I did not feel like I had wasted money on this show; regardless of the style of dance or the music chosen, the artistic talent of each dancer, choreographer, technical crew worker, and costume designer was enough to elicit my praise. Whether the dancers had years of experience or began in college, they each were beautifully masterful and artistic. I am happy I was urged to go to this show that I wouldn't have gone to without, as I experienced a beautiful showcase and amazing dancers I didn't even know were hiding on campus. If you have the chance to see this show next year, I would definitely embrace it.