SMC's Dance Department Presents Synapse Dance Theater
Illustration by Dana Binfet and Chloe Geschwind
On November 2 and 3, the Santa Monica College (SMC) Contemporary Dance Ensemble portrayed nearly two hours of moving artistry at the Fall 2019 showcase. They stirred the audience to both laughter and tapping feet through pieces like the wildly colorful ‘Ode to the 80’s,’ as well as a seemingly breathless silence during pieces like the Contemporary Ballet duet ‘Overlook’ and the deeply emotional Contemporary piece 'A-155510.' In addition to the pieces by faculty and student choreographers, the grand finale of the dance concert featured segments of ‘Songs of the Disinherited’ by guest choreographer Donald McKayle.
Synapse Contemporary Dance Company was created almost forty year ago by the SMC Dance Department. Every semester, they choose one or more guest choreographers to be featured in the showcase. Art Directors Mark Tomasic and Jae Lee chose to feature choreographies of the late Donald McKay.
“We are featuring one of the legendary choreographies called 'Songs of the Disinherited,' which was choreographed by legendary choreographer Donald McKayle,” said Lee. “His works were very focused on social injustice, racial segregation and black life in America, so he illustrated a lot of those political-social issues.”
The show was composed of 11 separate pieces, each distinguishable from the next. The opening piece titled ‘Encounters,' set to the tunes of Dave Brubeck Quartet, set a high-energy tone for the rest of the showcase. For the next contemporary piece, 'The Sun,' a large, golden ribbon was wrapped around one of the dancers, pulling her across the Broad Theater’s stage.
In another piece, dancers covered in emergency blankets walked off-stage and surrounded the audience as the silver foil shimmered in the bright stage lights. SMC dance major Julisa H. Figueroa, choreographer of this piece called ‘Reality/Dream/Assimilation,’ created it as “a reaction to the American Citizen’s participation in the exploitation and detainment of immigrants in U. S. detention camps,” as explained in the show's program. Additionally, many of the other pieces in varying dance genres had a strong social justice theme.
SMC dance majors auditioned eight weeks prior to the show to be a part of the Synapse Contemporary Dance Theater’s showcase. Many of the dancers had a performance in China during rehearsal, which decreased the amount of time they had to prepare for the show by another week and a half. Art Director and SMC Dance Professor Mark Tomasic said that he was glad to see it all come together.
“Right before the performance, the week before, you don’t think you’re going to be ready and things seem to be falling apart," said Tomasic. "Then magically, it all ends up coming together."
One of the dancers, Andrew Limas, felt the performances this past weekend went well. The audience could clearly see his excitement through his facial expressions.
"It was an amazing opportunity for me to just go on stage and share my passion with the audience, and I would do it a thousand more times if I could,” said Limas.
SMC President Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery attended the evening performance on Saturday. Visiting backstage with the dancers before the show, Jeffery took note of the performers' levels of enthusiasm and excitement.
“Some of the pieces were provocative… it touched on a lot of different segments of social engagement.” said Jeffery. “It was extremely beautiful and energetic. They put a lot of heart and soul into this and it shows.”
Attendee Jeffrey Lover also had nothing but praise for Synapse Dance Theater. He attends their performances almost every year because of the talent of the performers and choreographers.
“This year was especially good… it had such juxtaposition of emotions,” said Lover. “It goes from ‘Havanah Nights’ where you’re just thrilled and having a great time to like this really deep… feeling that was so poignant I had to cry. It was very moving.”