Visiting Artists Bring Intricate Works To Brazos Contemporary Dance Festival
Themes of heritage, body image, art and the human condition will be explored at the Brazos Contemporary Dance Festival on Sept. 8 and 9, hosted by the School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts’ Dance Science program.
Visiting artists presenting work include Melanie Diaz from Denton, Heather Samuelson from Nacogdoches, Andrew Smith from Huntsville, Sarah Tran from Dallas and Richard Oaxaca from Cleveland, Ohio. Texas A&M dance students will perform a piece choreographed by Carisa Armstrong, dance program director and associate professor, and Diane Bedford, clinical associate professor and section chair of dance, music and theatre performance.
Armstrong and Christine Bergeron, associate dean for academic affairs and clinical professor, created the festival in 2007 with the goal of bringing contemporary dance to the community.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. in the Dance Black Box Theater at the Physical Education Activity Program Building (PEAP 207). Tickets are $12 for general admission and $7 for students and seniors, available at the MSC Box Office.
Armstrong and Bedford’s piece is titled “Intertwined,” described as two students expressing a synergistic relationship as they move through the space. The piece will begin with the dancers close together and seemingly entangled. As it progresses, they will explore their space, moving further apart while still maintaining their connectedness.
Tran and five dancers from her TranScend Motion dance company will perform a piece called “Roots.” Tran choreographed the contemporary piece that originally premiered in 2021.
“I am a Vietnamese-American and this work was created to portray my heritage and represent where I come from, and how a Vietnamese woman is being portrayed in our society,” Tran said.
The dancers perform with silk fabrics that represent delicacy and softness, but also resiliency as silk does not break easily, Tran said.
In addition to her live performance, Tran will present a dance film she choreographed and directed titled “No Rescue Needed.” Created in 2020, the film features a female lead. The film is set in two contrasting locations: a proscenium stage and a construction site.
“The stage, for me, portrays society,” Tran said. “There are places and people in society, but there is this one solo dancer that is going through everything. She is standing out and is doing her own thing.”
Smith will perform a piece called “Aesthetic Pressure.” The work explores muscle dysmorphia and the pressure to obtain a particular aesthetic. Smith is a second-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in dance at Sam Houston State University.
Diaz, a recent Tarrant County College graduate, has 13 years of dance training in multiple genres and is attending Texas Woman’s University.
Samuelson, associate director of the School of Theatre and Dance at Stephen F. Austin State University, will return to the festival for a sixth year with her company VERVE.
“I love this festival, and I am so fortunate that we’ve been selected every year for it,” Samuelson said. “It provides so much opportunity for my dancers to perform, to travel throughout the state and see what is being offered. They get to get out and experience presenting dance in different forms.”
Samuelson choreographed a piece called “Illusory Motion” that will be performed by six dancers from VERVE. The modern dance is inspired by art including paintings, drawings and sculptures that appear to move. Dancers wear black-and-white costuming and move to the music of Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzola.
“As I created my piece of choreography, I would look at it and think, ‘This looks like a painting on an art gallery wall, but it’s in motion,’” Samuelson said.
Among the festival’s strongest draws is the variety of the featured performances, Samuelson said.
“You never know what you’re going to get until you’re sitting in that audience,” she said. “There are such diverse works. Some are fun and quirky. Some are full company pieces. Some are excerpts, and you’re not always getting modern dance. You’re getting performance art as well.”
Brazos Contemporary Dance Festival: Sept. 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Dance Black Box Theater, Physical Education Activity Program Building (PEAP 207), 632 Penberthy Blvd. Tickets are $12 general admission; $7 for students and seniors, available at the MSC Box Office.
Top photo: Sarah Tran and five dancers from her TranScend Motion dance company will perform a piece called “Roots.” Photo courtesy of Sarah Tran.
