Performance Improv at the UAS

Since the first day I worked at The Urban Arts Space last year till now I have been passionate about the unique space that composes Urban Arts and always dreamed of dancing in it. On Saturday, November 22, 2008 Sarah Gibbons (other student assistant to UAS) and I were working. Because it was Ohio State football's big Michigan game day, not many people came into the space. We decided to take this opportunity of bare galleries and extremely thought provoking and aesthetically pleasing art to do an improvisational dance jam.

Sarah, myself, and other dance major Meredith Hurst are all members of OSU Dance Department’s “PIE,” otherwise known as “Performance Improvisation Ensemble.” In this class/ensemble we learn to dance improvisationally using a variety of tools for movement creation. One tool we focused on was the different ways of seeing line (on one anothers body and our own body) while dancing. Dancing in front of the frantic and varying lines in Alan Crockett’s paintings was a refreshing way to explore new movement. I also found that working in the deep narrow space of the hallway of the gallery made me explore traveling movement choices I normally would not in a studio setting.

Malcom Cohran’s “Buffet of Anticipation,” Ann Hamilton’s “Shell,” Suzanne Silver’s pieces “Squiggle,” and “Deflated Painting from the Faculty Exhibition were other sources of inspiration for another improv jam. Being surrounded by the wide variety of textures in all the pieces: from silver to cloth to plastic to neon lights definitely influenced our dancing. A foreign vocabulary to each one of us was introduced. Because there was limited space around the work our movements became much more about gesture and motif than full body movement.

Dancing in such close proximity to the artwork and one another really forced us to make connections. These two improv jams were not seen as three dancers dancing around visual artwork, but a meshing of art forms; dance reflecting visual art and art complementing dance, dancers reflecting one another and contrasting one another, making connections physically and mentally, and acting not as a individual but an ensemble, even when dancing alone.

I enjoyed my dance experience at UAS and plan on dancing there again. To rent out or utilize our gallery space for your own personal events check out our website.

- Joanna Reed, UAS Student Assistant