RDT's Muscle Memories more or less memorable

By Aisha Kibwana     11/20/08 6:00pm

Fans of modern dance and ballet will take pleasure Rice Dance Theatre's fall show, Muscle Memories. The show features performances by Rice faculty and students and a guest performance by students from Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and is choreographed by Rice's Assistant Director for Dance Leslie Scates.Although the majority of the dances fuse modern and ballet, the show includes a traditional Egyptian Bedouin tribal dance performed by Rice's Mediterranean Dance instructor, Kristina Koutsoudas. Other notaperformances include "Nineteen," an energetic dance choreographed by Sid Richardson College junior Emily Jacob and performed by Brown College senior Jennie Wilburn, Baker College sophomore Hilary Koo and math graduate student Taylor Coon, and "Moments, Momentum," choreographed by Wiess College junior Dina Yangirova and performed by Sid sophomore Nazima Zakhidova, Wiess freshman Shuyi Li, Baker senior Alice Chi, Wiess senior Margaret McKinnon and Baker senior McKenzie Smith. Although the performances are almost all modern and ballet, they are very diverse rhythmically and musically, ranging from jazzy and sassy to slow and classy.

The highlight of the show is the "Choking Duet," choreographed and adeptly performed by Scates and guest artist John Box. This dance about the interactions between two people will surprise audiences with the number of lifts and bends that can be performed on a single chair.

Not all of the dances are fun and games, however. "Chasing Spirits," choreographed by Baker senior Lizzi Leslie and performed by Wiess freshman Stephanie Dunlop, Brown freshman Jasmine Elliot, Wiess senior Christian Holmes, Koo, Will Rice senior Melody Muñoz, Lovett College junior Christina Palacios and Jones junior Lisa Sun has a more solemn tone. Influenced by the choreographer's loss of her late father, the dance is an exhibition of death and a commemoration of and dedication to the deceased.

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Other dances portray day-to-day activities and emotions such as love, stability, movement and motion. Among these are "Journey in Tandem," choreographed by Baker junior Jasmine Bright and performed by Chi and Brown senior Carmen Wright, "Taken," choreographed by McKeehan and performed by Yangirova, Chi, Sid freshman Christa Clarke, Will Rice senior Kathryn Noll and Zakhidova and "Homenaje a Neruda," choreographed by Wilburn and performed by Jacob, Dunlop, Coon and Palacios.

While the performances are good, they have the potential to be better if some of the dancers would exhibit more enthusiasm and hold back their exhaustion. A dancer can make a performance brilliant simply by demonstrating as much energy and enjoyment as possible. The audience can easily detect a lack of interest in the performer, and the slow energy drags down the audience, leaving them feeling like they've wasted both their time and their money. Hopefully, the dancers will give the attendees the performance they pay for this weekend.

Muscle Memories is a show for dance lovers - more specifically, for modern and ballet lovers. While no one should feel discouraged from attending, the performances will most likely not entertain viewers with little appreciation for elegant leaps and turns.

Neverthless, even fans of high-energy dance forms like hip-hop will find some of the performances enjoyable. Rice students and arts supporters who want to see a once-in-a-semester performance should head to Hamman Hall at 8 p.m. this Friday and Saturday to support their friends and classmates.

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