Courtesy of Carly Vanderheyden

A life sized TV, a disco ball, the blowing of a whistle — these are not what one would usually expect to see at a dance performance, yet the WashU Dance Collective (WUDC) incorporated each of these elements artistically into their performance.

This past weekend, April 10 and 11 WUDC hosted their annual showcase, this year titled “Alchemy”. The performance featured work from artistic directors Ryadah Heiskell and Cecil Slaughter, guest choreographer Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson, and several student choreographers including seniors Amelia Barfield, Natalie Green, Maddy Pestine, Lily Rich and first-years Harper and Libi Horn. 

“We have a lot of dancers this year that have had more choreographic experience,” Slaughter said. “In some dance programs … especially as a first-year student, you don’t get these [choreographic] opportunities.”

“Alchemy” blended a mix of styles with most of the dancing falling under the umbrella of modern or contemporary, but elements of ballet, jazz, and hip-hop also had their moment in the spotlight. Slaughter said this variety was intentional to give opportunities to students’ diverse range of choreographic and technical experience.

 “As directors, we try to pick works that are sort of very different from each other. So, we have students who have competition backgrounds, [and] we have students who have developed their own unique way of moving,” Slaughter said. “We try to make it as much of a well-rounded concert as possible.”

One of the most dynamic pieces of the evening was the closing piece before intermission, “Bodies to Ashes, Earth to Dust” choreographed by Heiskell. The previously blank stage was filled with an elaborate set, including a couch, colorful posters, and a large translucent box resembling a giant television. Heiskell said the technical elements are part of her process.

“I usually know exactly what [I want] … conceptually, especially when I want to use scenic things,” she said. 

The piece also featured a duet between dancers on opposite sides of the stage: one in the TV cube set and the other in the living room. Part of it was set to a series of sound effects, including a repetitive popping noise, which audience member first-year Isaac Payne found intriguing.

 “I didn’t expect how creative the songs got and how they were able to find moves either in silence or to different sound effects,” he said.  

Heiskell talked about how the dance style of this piece in particular served to push the dancers to embrace their inner “pedestrian.”

“We worked a lot on how to be a person on stage,” she said. “They probably got tired of hearing me say ‘I want you to be a human who happens to be doing dance steps on stage and not like a dancer.’”

Another memorable piece to audience members, including first-year Srishreya Arunsaravanakumar, was “Inner Inertia” by Pestine, set to “666 ʇ” and “Lump Sum” by Bon Iver. The emotion of the piece was instantly evident, from the sharp movement directly accented on the emotional melody to the dancers’ expressions. Arunsaravanakumar said that this piece stood out due to the coordination of the lyrics and movement.

“I really liked the Bon Iver piece,” she said. “That was one of the few pieces with lyrics and I think lyrics do add something to dance.”

Courtesy of Carly Vanderheyden

The emotion in the piece was purposely embedded by Pestine, who choreographed it in honor of a difficult time in her life. When the music faded into “Lump Sum,” the choreography seemed to sigh in relief as the movement became smoother and calmer. It ended purposefully, according to Pestine, with a long breath in silence. 

“It’s about basically hitting rock bottom and finding community and people to help you pull yourself out of that rut,” she said. “I think the hardest part is bringing that emotion to the physicality of the piece and to the choreography. I’ve tried to pair each movement with an element of the story or an emotion to help [the audience] see it better.”

Pestine made sure the dancers knew the context of the piece’s story, which led the dancers to develop a deeper connection that was evident on stage.  

“I thought that I’d be doing a disservice to the story and to my dancers if we were to just jump right into choreography,” she said. “We had a very deep conversation about mental health. I opened up to them a lot. There have been tears shed throughout the process and a lot of vulnerability shared between myself and the dancers.”

The artistic directors work together to title the show, and while brainstorming they thought about how the choreography was made. They came up with the title of “Alchemy”, referring to the process of refining movement into choreography.

“If you experiment with choreography, you start out with an idea, and it starts to morph into something else, sometimes you don’t know what to let go of or what to keep,” Slaughter said. “So “Alchemy” is that separation of elements, what you need to let go.”