24th Annual 5X5 Dance Festival
Nova Brown
The evening started with a dance performance in the Art Museum. This performance by Garret&Co called On Perspective was an installation style work of art. Depending on where you were viewing this dance performance affected how you felt and thought of the dance. Some thought that it was about resistance away from a community, others felt that it was about a community welcoming others. This piece was performed pre-show and during the intermission, allowing the audience to be fully immersed within the world of dance for an evening.
The first main stage performance was choreographed by the IMMIX dance project called Quartet. Through the dancers’ expression and their carefully crafted movements, the audience was able to feel a sense of sorrow. The piece brought the audience through a dark period into a lighter one, showing a sense of hope through togetherness.
The next performance entitled: Less & Less, was a single dancer presenting the process of letting go of a negative energy or person. The name was fitting as the dancer Charlee Brockett would convey themselves as thinking less and less of this negative person. The next performance was choreographed by Colby Connelly called And So It Carries On. This performance pondered two ideas; does one person have to be sacrificed for the other or could there be peace? This work of art performed a delicate topic with ease and composure, seen clearly through the carefully critiqued movements of each dancer.
The next performance shocked and delighted the audience as it brought two communities of dance together. KRUMP-Led Swan: A Fusion of Grit and Grace choreographed by Matisse Madden and Jus Hues. This striking performance brought the ballet community and the hip hop world together. In an interview after the performance, Matisse Madden explained how the dance community itself has division and this piece invited both sides into each other’s world. The duet created a sense of hope and unity by creating spaces where individual people can express and embrace who they are. Ballet, often perceived as exclusive and gatekept, and KRUMP, rooted in marginalized urban communities, rarely meet on equal footing. By performing side by side, Madden and Hues created a choreographic dialogue that pushed against these boundaries. The audience experienced not only the blending of two techniques, but also the possibility of a more inclusive dance culture. Through their intentional partnership, Madden and Hues modeled what it looks like when art becomes a vehicle for community. This made the work one of the most socially significant pieces of the evening.
After a few more meaningful performances before and during intermission, the somber tone that was set for the evening had a change of tune with USJ Dance Ensemble’s performance. Their lively performance called Rendezvous incorporated modern funky music into a brilliant dance. They were able to convey a strong sense of community. In an interview with Rya Greene, she shared that she wanted this performance to be interpreted as the idea of community in many different ways. She wanted the dancers to enjoy what they did, bringing the audience with them.
As the audience filtered out of the theater and went back to their own lives, they carried with them more than a memory of impressive technique. There were questions of what community is and how art can break barriers and make change.
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