Maria F.

Rivera
Intro to Ballet
Marsha Pabalis
February 6, 2015
Enjoying the Journey
The title of the dance describes to perfection what the performance was, a journey. A
journey throughout different parts of the world, one thing from the artistic director, Linda Smith,
I would like to share that really grabbed my attention was when she said in regards to why the
show was made Let us not forget our heritage and journey. We are a land of immigrants. I was
able to see the Repertory Dance Theatre perform February 6, 2015 in a concert at Hillcrest High
School in Midvale, Utah. The program was completely free and made possibly by the Midvale
Arts Council. It was an amazing concert, at first I was not sure of how the concert was going to
be since it was professional dance company dancing in a high school auditorium, but to my
surprise it was great. They had professional crew members working the lights, music, and curtain
so you could not remember you were at a high school while watching the performances. I went
to see the concert by myself and in a way it was helpful because I was able to really focus in all
the dances without a distraction. The concert was composed of 10 dances, all from different part
of the world and from different choreographers as well as a different style in dancing.
The first dance I would like talk about is titled Duets to Brazilian-Indian Music (1998)
and choreographed by Zvi Gotheiner, music by Marlui Miranda and was performed by 6
members of the Repertory Dance Theatre company. This dance was interesting because it
combined different elements, almost made it seem as if it was different dances one after the
other. The shapes were circular, and very big. Most of the moves were made as a couple, and

they were really smooth and graceful. They seemed to be so flexible on stage, their movements
had a lot of curved shapes all throughout the dance. The lightning at first was dark, blue and
purple tones which gave the setting a mood of suspense. As the dance progressed the music went
onto a fast tempo with Afro-Brazilian music, there was drums playing. The movements during
this part of the performance were big movements as well but very sharp and angular not so much
smooth and circular as the first part. Their arms looked like the dancers had the longest arms
because the movements were so extended. The background looked as if they were in a jungle
with the help of props and the lightning changed to an orange color. It almost gave you the
impression that you were part of the adventure. Their costumes were neutral colors, light brown
and white which was helpful for both parts of the dance. They had good use of the levels, the
dance started high up, during the dance they were middle level and high, and towards the end it
was using the ground level. This was one of the longest dances in the concert, it was about 3
minutes long.
The second dance I will describe is titled Passengers (1970) it was choreographed by
Viola Farber and performed by 7 dancers. This dance was interesting because it was different in
the aspect that I had not seen something like it before. At first it was a bit distracting because the
dancers were running around in circles one after the other but they were in a specific order all
ending up in center stage. In a way they looked like they were looking for something but the
audience could not tell what it was. The movements were circular and big, the shapes the dancers
were making were circles but they were all aligned in the center creating one line. They were
wearing colorful outfits and the lightning kept changing from yellow, to orange, to light blue. As
the music kept going the dancers then started all doing different steps, and they were all in
different levels, some were on the ground while others standing up. They were all running to

corner 3 and 4, giving the impression that they were running out of time because they looked like
they were in a rush. All while creating sharp movements are they were exiting the stage and
coming back in. They were also performing stunts. Although everyone was doing their own steps
and not partnered up it seem as if they were all working towards the same goal, so it was a
powerful dance. This dance was not very long, it was approximately only 2 minutes long.
My interpretation of the first dance was my first impression for the concert since it was
the first performance. It was good, because it had different elements, it created different moods,
from suspense to peaceful to adventurous, it was interesting. The change of music was also
something I enjoyed about this dance because it kept me entertained and intrigued. But it was a
good piece, the dancers were amazing, the way they moved and the flow they had on stage was
beautiful. The second dance I described was the 7th dance in the program. It was the first one
after the intermission so I had seen a few others so this one really caught my attention because it
was so different from any other I had seen that night. It did seem to be messy in my eyes only
because I did not get the purpose of some of the movements like them running in circles and then
exiting the stage. Since they were all doing different movements and in different levels it added
variety to the performance and concert as a whole. Since the music was slow beat but the
movements fast it also gave the mood of anxiety or at least thats what I perceived from it.
Overall this was a good concert, it was nice to see different dances from different places,
although they were not traditional dances, it was all modern dance with multi-cultural music. It
was a learning experience for me as well, seeing about other cultures through dance is one of the
best things and experiences. The dancers in this company are absolutely amazing, and it was a
pleasure being able to see it. The concert was so entertaining because it created different moods,
it had so much variety. The concert was a total of maybe an hour long and they had in my

opinion a lot of the dances for that time and it was good, it was good use of time. The dances
kept going one after the other with the exception of the intermission. I would love to go see them
perform again.