2024 Variance: a BFA Dance Concert

Performances of Variance: a BFA Dance Concert are in the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater, with tickets $25 for the general public and $16 for students and CSULB faculty/staff.

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LONG BEACH, CA September 10, 2024 – The CSULB College of the Arts and Department of Dance present Variance with performances Thursday-Saturday, October 10-12 at 8:00 PM, with an additional matinée Saturday, October 12 at 2:00 PM. Variance is the 9th annual presentation of BFA and faculty work featuring choreography by Danzel Thompson-Stout, Rebecca Bryant, and BFA Candidates Dante Casarin, Elaina Greenawalt, Sammy Macias, Michi, and Eva Watson. 

The evening is a diverse collection of choreography including collaborations with composers from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music (BCCM), a multimedia fiber collaboration with Visual Arts, and dances with influences ranging from contemporary movement, Vogue Femme, dance theater, and street and Hip-Hop forms. Join us! 

Opening the show is Eva Watson’s to make room for you, a work inspired by an approach to therapy that identifies and addresses sub-personalities within an individual’s psyche. How can we learn to care for ourselves the way we care for those we love? To hold our wounds in the palms of our hands and lay them down gently to rest? Supported by Watson’s sound design is a journey of looking inward to move forward. 

unfolding//desplegando is a collaboration between dancer/director Rebecca Bryant, multimedia fiber artist Jeanne Medina Le, composer Don Nichols, and dancers Cierra Bennette, Kiki Higashi, and Ashlyn Yoshikawa. This team of artists explores the intersection of their disciplines through a blend of choreography and improvisation inspired by sacred geometries and driven by the creativity that stems from limitation. This work has a partner version that premiered in August 2024 at the Jornada de Danza festival at Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in El Salvador. 

Can’t You See? explores visibility and self-perception within the human experience. Choreographer Danzel Thompson-Stout examines the paradox of being seen and unseen, questioning how we navigate the tension between public and private selves. Blending Popping, Jookin’, House Footwork, and Breakin’ Floorwork, with original music by TPM, the performance offers a sharp, angsty, and elusive movement aesthetic. Collaboratively generated with dancers while guided by movement coach Richard Medina and character coaches Tashara Gavin-Moorehead and Tsiambwom Akuchu, Can’t You See? challenges audiences to confront the hidden layers of identity. 

In You Little Faker choreographer Sammy Macias explores conformity, questions reality, and displays the internal and external battle of the self. Personality dictates how the world perceives us, but are we putting on a character for the sake of individuality or conventionality? In collaboration with his dancers, Macias examines who we really are when we take off our masks and observe what our true selves may look like without them.  

An autobiographical work by Michi, Callejera reveals the beauty and insecurity of embracing your identity and walking in your truth. Slang for “streetwalker” in Spanish, and pronounced kah-yeh-he-ra, Michi offers this work to allow the audience to walk in her heels briefly as she navigates this world embracing her full identity. The sound score is by Spanish composer, developer, and lecturer Álvaro Cáceres (BCCM) who specializes in improvising music and visuals with computer code—also known as live coding. With influences from voguing and contemporary movement aesthetics, as well as house and electronic sound influences, this collaboration yields a work that integrates innovative components of street art and queer identities. 

WIRED, a premiere by Elaina Greenawalt, explores the power struggle between self-suppression and self-expression. Set inside the viewer’s brain, watch what happens when we attempt to resist the nagging urge to hide parts of ourselves. BCCM student composer Joan LaMar’s musical score and fellow Department of Dance BFA Eva Anderson’s costume design brings our inner voice to life in the form of a machine, programmed to ruin your day. What does it feel like to see our internal conflict brought to life? How willing are we to push back against it? 

Closing the show is Dante Casarin’s My Sole, Our Lite—a cultural exploration of two New York Hip-Hop forms with a focus on individual expression and exploration: House and Litefeet. Born in underground clubs, House’s essence is a soulful movement with an ethos of self-expression and non-judgment. Litefeet emerged through a combination of community, energy, and competition, pushing street dancers to spread the culture of Litefeet through the New York streets and subways. Join us as these artists tell the story of exploration, community, and joy through culture, music, and soul/soles.  

Technical Coordinator Stephanie Losleben; Lighting Designer Stacy Fireheart; Costume Design Supervisor and Shop Manager Kelsey Vidic; Technical Advisor Gregory R.R. Crosby; and Music Director Don Nichols all offer crucial contributions in their collaborations and consultations with each choreographer.  

Following Friday’s performance there will be a short Q+A session with the student choreographers moderated by Concert Director Rebecca Lemme. This is an opportunity for audience members to get more perspective on each artist’s approach and process. Students especially are encouraged to stay and engage in this discussion. A community college engagement event will precede Saturday’s matinée; interested dance departments should contact Rebecca Lemme for details.  

Variance opens on Thursday, October 10, and runs for four performances, closing on Saturday, October 12. Shows are daily at 8:00 PM with an additional matinée Saturday at 2:00 PM. Shows are located in the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater on the CSULB Campus (located just east of the Pyramid on Atherton). Tickets for the live show are $25 for General Admission and $16 for Seniors, Students/Faculty/Staff (have ID ready to show at the door). All tickets must be purchased online. Ticket sales are available until 30 minutes past the start of each show, or until sold out. 

Contact:
Rebecca Lemme
Rebecca.lemme@csulb.edu

$15 campus parking is available in CSULB Parking Lot G12, directly in front of the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, via parking kiosk (cards only) and the ParkMobile App.