ADAY no longer dancing in the dark

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Alejandro Montalvo, SM '99, and Stephanie Etienne, TC '00, of Limitless Productions.

If this weekend's Dance Symposium accomplishes anything, it will erase the common perception that either you can dance or you can't. It will also remind us that some Yalies really can.

We all know who that last group is--they own the floor at the Co-op Dance. They pack intimidating, out-of-the-way venues like the Creative Arts Workshop with gaping mouths. We watch them in awe--the ease and lightness with which they move, the precision and perfection of each gesture, and the way they inhabit their bodies, which seem to have none of the awkward limitations ours possess.

Some of us are pathetically inspired, deceived by how easy it looks. We end up paralyzed with pain on our common room floors, remembering that we have been unable to do a split since fifth grade.

Others react by mentally shoving dancers into an elite category of their own. They are a group we could never join. And since we never think of dance as an art form accessible to or appreciable by ordinary humans, dance seems to have no real place in our lives.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Rhythmic Blue

Dancers insist this is the problematic perception of dance everywhere, and particularly at Yale. Why, they ask, at an institution renowned for its programs in both the fine and performing arts, does dance go largely unnoticed? Even though performances are well attended, few people recognize dance as being important and having an appeal spanning cultures. "Compared with the attention paid to singing groups, dance is relatively invisible," Sunny Gelati, SY '01, a member of Rhythmic Blue, said.

Last year, in an attempt to remedy this situation by organizing larger events, a group of dancers formed the Alliance for Dance at Yale College (ADAY). The founding members of ADAY seek to enrich the arts experience at Yale by providing a voice for dancers both on and off-campus. Steered by Elana Aquino, SM '00, Sidra Bell, SY '01, Pamela James JE '01, Kirsten Leonard, TD '00, and Liz Vacco, SM '00, ADAY has many goals. As an umbrella organization for all of Yale's student dance groups, ADAY wants to bring quality dance residency programs to campus and have performing companies and guest artists teach seminars. The group also hopes to start a fund to support dance education at the University, and they're gunning for better rehearsal and performance space.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Dustin Brown, JE '00, and Jessica Hirota, BK '00, of Yale Dancers

The first of ADAY's projects is becoming a reality this weekend, with the first annual Dance Symposium '98: Celebrating 25 Years of Dance at Yale. The fruit of nine months of laborious planning and fund-raising, the Symposium boasts an all-day agenda which includes master classes in a variety of dance styles taught by renowned dancers who have performed with companies like the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, the Dance Theater of Harlem, and Jinga Brasileira. There will also be a free children's class and a guest lecture by Ernestine Stodelle, a well-known dancer and critic. The day will conclude with a gala performance by campus dance groups including YaleDancers, Rhythmic Blue, and A Different Drum. The finale will feature Buglisi/Foreman Dance, a troupe which stars two former principal dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Clearly, the founders of ADAY are passionately dedicated to their cause, and are more than excited about the upcoming Symposium. But they are dancers. How will Saturday's Symposium attract the rest of the student body, especially the non-graceful? Why would we want to attend a class taught by a famous dancer when we'd just end up making fools of ourselves?

ADAY's message is that dance is relevant to all of us, whether or not we know it. Bell and Jones suggested that the lack of recognition of dance as a respectable art form may be the result of its not being seen as a product of intellect, as well as its physicality and sensuousness, which may make some uncomfortable. Lacking the permanence of a painting or the accessibility of a play, dance is transient and exists in a time frame shared only by the dancers and their audience. The choreographer's medium is the human body; not paints and canvas.

"Dance is the only art form that is fundamental; before you learn anything else, you learn to move," Bell said. James added, "It combines discipline, athleticism, grace, poise, passion, and intellect." Bell said that a child who studies dance develops a comfort with his or her body and a sense of its abilities--a poise and discipline that come from nothing else.

Unfortunately, this knowledge comes too late for most of us. The Symposium is not going to make you a dancer in one day, and you might not believe a word that these ADAYers are saying. Poise, grace, and discipline may not sound like anything you could possibly learn, especially at the ripe old age of 19 or 20. But ADAYers emphasize that the Symposium is intended for everyone. Its purpose is to destroy the preconception held by many that they simply cannot dance. The ADAY message: make sure you can't by hitting the floor this weekend.

Dance is about people--that is what makes it basic, universal, and even necessary. It celebrates the human body's potential and our ability to push its limits in order to convey something through movement.

So go to some of the events on Saturday, if not as a courageous participant then as an audience member. The significance of dance comes down to what you feel as you dance or sit along with the performers. Don't get discouraged because you can't releve without falling over. Don't worry if you don't even know what a releve is. Dancers have turned mere movement into a celebration of the human body's potential. Hopefully, the Symposium will remind us that our bodies are worthy of celebration.

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