Good Essay About Ririe Woodbury Dance Company, Power In Performance

The performance by the Ririe Woodbury Dance Company at the Utah Arts Festival on June 26 can be described as powerful and energetic. The troupe dazzled the audience with a high powered performance of modern dance. Daniel Charon (choreographer) creates a masterful performance in the piece “Flabbergast”.
The troupe of dancers were dressed simply in black and performed against a blank background. This minimalist approach brought attention to their movement. The troupe began the performance tightly bundled in the center of the stage and broke apart in an explosion of movement. The dance was like a modern painting that was punctuated by strong movements matched to modern music. The music seems to have been chosen to match a dance that was choreographed without it.
The troupe was mixed with male and female dancers who expressed themselves individually on stage occasionally pairing up of coming together in small groups. The dance expressed strength and flexibility in the dancers evoking emotions such as confidence and borderline anger. The modern performance allowed the dancers to showcase their skills as dancers in a nontraditional way. The dancers would curve their bodies towards each other before confronting each other or spinning or leaping away from each other. The stage became a canvas like a painting on which the dancers used every available space at some point in the performance. At some points in the performance they were coiled tightly together in the center and then bursting out in all direction to occupy all the space on the stage. Each dance had their moment to shine and show their strength in their moves. At some points the dancers became acrobats in their flips and jumps.
This piece did not tell a story but it shared powerful emotions. After the performance there was a feeling of exhilaration and release of anger. The dancers were committed to this performance and expressed these emotions to the audience.