It's reasonable for a Tufts student to expect to encounter Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" in an English class. But what about on the dance floor?
This year, the annual Tufts Fall Dance Concert, dubbed "out in front (a little to the left)," explores dance through a Transcendentalist lens. The performance, which draws inspiration from the recent Tufts University Art Gallery exhibit "Renovating Walden," will take place at 4 p.m. on Saturday and at 7 p.m. on Sunday in Jackson Dance Lab.
Senior Lecturer of Dance Daniel McCusker, who oversees and sequences the student?choreographed dances, said that the concert is an outgrowth of the Tufts Dance Ensemble course.
"It's an opportunity for students with dance experience to experiment with new ways to generate dance material," McCusker said.
"Walden" may seem an unusual muse for dancers, but somehow, in this concert, it works. McCusker said, "It kind of demonstrates that almost anything could lend itself to dance, if you think about it."
The four pieces in "out in front" were innovatively envisioned and choreographed. Throughout the semester, the dancers explored several different mediums connecting "Walden" with movement. Sensory photographs, a list of vocabulary words from the first chapter of "Walden" and the physical navigation of the "Renovating Walden" exhibit have all played a role in shaping the students' dances, McCusker said.
"This [process] is really kind of creative problem solving. ... They are really using their imaginations," he said, referring to the dancers.
This experimental approach has forced the dancers to carefully consider the use of their bodies in the performance, and to positive ends. In this concert, dancers serve as both the stars and the backdrop.
"I think some of my favorites of these segments are the ones where we did the choreography in the Walden exhibit, which translated into using other dancers or other bodies to recreate spaces," senior Chartise Clark said. "There's one [dance] in which I was dancing behind a block of wood, so I'm behind a wall of dancers to recreate the way [the audience] can't see me."
Collaboration between dancers is another noteworthy aspect of this performance. Because the dancers come from varying dance backgrounds, juxtaposition and compromise were two major challenges while choreographing. However, those obstacles have been surmounted, and students reflected positively on the experience.
"My favorite part of [the concert] is working with a partner so we choreograph some of the stuff with someone else," junior Anna Chatillon said. "I really like the collaborative part of that."
McCusker shared Chatillon's sentiments, emphasizing the value of teamwork. "We could all use a little more collaboration in the world," he said.
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