The Art of Communication

by festival blogger Tessa Stamp

It is such an important part of the Expanse Festival and always a fresh treat to experience the performances in the local program.  The two selections this year display an essence to the performance of dance and a commitment to our goal as movement performers to communicate.  Communication is always the goal…to say something without words, to be heard in a movement and to feel the message.

m.a.w. left me with an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, fragmented memories and the struggle to communicate them and for the two onstage to struggle to remember them together.

This Displace and its exploration of the behavior of animals and the personification of their movement left me inevitably examining how we relate to stimulus in our environment.  The simple and beautiful lighting, and clearly pointed movement helped to communicate the basic action/reaction and repetitive cycles that clearly functioned as the motivations of animal behavior.

Thank you dancers for such beautiful offerings to interpret.