> Choreography Projects

December, 2002

David Rousseve steered us through a very beneficial quarter of advanced choreography projects. We paid lots of attention to structure -- how our choreographic pieces were shaped and built. Specifically for my work, David encopuraged me to continue exploring the concept of "weaving" text and movement and choreography in ways more seamless and organic. I concentrated on reworking The Ribbon Dance (a piece I had attempted a few times over the past few years) as a way to incorporate this weaving motif into my work -- a growing sense of how the overlapping of voices, shapes, movement and use of props can create a visceral thematic landscape. The piece itself was partly based on research I had been doing on the cross-cultural folk tradition of young women dancing with ribbons (the maypole dances, etc.) as a public celebration of their maidenhood and their passage into womanhood. It involved an ensemble of women, numerous red and white ribbons (four yards in length), and the intricate tangling and untangling of the ribbons, creating large and complicated shapes and forms -- the woman starting out as individuals, coming together as one, and seamlessly untangling back to the individual. It was quite a feat. I also added the spoken word text of one performer, Amy, as an attempt to mix words that refected on identity and gender, to hopefully place the dance in a more substantial context (the gender construction of women; and an exploration of the traditional and contemporary feminist community).

A WAC 211D
2nd Year MFA Final Showing

The Ribbon Dance

Direction and Choreography by: Kevin Kane
Text: Amy Kusolpaisit

Performed By:
Tiffany Moore, Tiana N. Liufau, Jackie Lopez, Chase Landau, Diane Palaganas,
Jenay Anolin, Shaggy Bajrami, Vanessa KonnefKlatt, Sarri Sanchez, Jennarose Kerr, Misuda Cohen, Gabby Angeles, Amy Kusolpaisit, Cynthia Castillo, Stella Adelman, Hikari Nishida

Also Featuring Works By:
Kim Vetter, Sandra Chatterjee, Tamrahenna, Peter Carpenter

to top of page

Home » Short Bio » Resumes » Theatre Workshop » UCLA
Film Projects » The Flourish Foundation » Other Projects
Guest Book » Contact » Site Map

© 2001 Kevin Kane All rights reserved.
designed by