Ryan Chrisman's "Place(d)"

Ryan Chrisman’s group of college dancers performed her master's thesis piece, Place(d), outside in the dance courtyard of the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on March 6, 2008 . The dancers used the trees, bushes, benches, and terrace of the courtyard that was the stage. The dancers began all separate, unaware of each other, exploring the space where they found themselves. They curiously touched and played with their setting, pulling branches to watch them spring back, tipping benches to see how they teeter, and experimenting with the freestanding drums and hanging chimes. After experimenting with their surroundings, the dancers began to experiment with each other—meeting, mirroring, engaging, Short phrases were repeated in pairs. I was unclear as to whether the pairs were ignorant or apathetic towards the others. Suddenly, a game of hide & seek broke out, all dancers playing together. They ran joyfully around the courtyard, laughing, breathing, smiling. Eventually the male dancers was singled out, his phrase with deep plies stolen by the other dancers, pushing him out. Their movements now the same, but in round. The dancers’ cream and tan cozy costumes followed their bodies and pulled back with them. As if they were called inside, like a playing child for supper, the dancers exited the courtyard and framed themselves, one in each window. There was a rhythm to the smack of their knees against the glass, the streak of their hands down it; they enacted their yearning to return to the place where they had bonded as now they were each isolated. Bidding their stage goodbye, the dancers reached their heads back outside, soaking the location for all it was worth before they were drawn away for the last time. The piece was emotional and charged with a playful energy. This was recaptured in the video supplement shown inside after the completion of the piece.


video: Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, http://www.youtube.com/user/cspac