Danza Abierta de la Universidad de Costa Rica

On Thursday 25th July, we went to watch a different kind of performance to the ones that we are used to, a dance performance. It was absolutely a different, unique experience because dancers, in comparison to actors, only focus on movements. Actors, on the other hand, have to divide all their energy into actions, face expression, voice, etc.

Nevertheless, I found some similarities between actors and dancers. For example, breathing. After watching this performance I understood the importance of breathing, something Roberto taught us long time ago. It was impressive to actually hear the performers breathe before making a new movement. Breathing was their source of energy.

The performance, directed by Rogelio López, was divided into 3 dances: Prohibido adentrarse en el bosque, Pulsión, Érase una vez un Árbol. They were all aggressive. To me, the most impressive dance, and my favorite one was Pulsión, because all dancers were onstage at the same time during all the performance. This proved that they had to work a lot on their energy to present this almost-10 minutes long performance. The choreography was very interesting, but they needed some more practice. The mistakes they made could have been because of the nervousness (this was their first show in Lima), but they still were very coordinated.

Érase una vez un Árbol, presented the themes of death, the lost of someone you really appreciate and admire. This was influenced by the death of María Cristina Gigirey, maestra de danza. Thus, the dance was aggressive and full of fast, strong movements. In this part of the presentation I realized that sometimes dancers, as actors, also used face expression to accompany their movements.

Some of the movements involved more than one performer. We could see how, for example, the couple of dancers placed in the right part of the stage did one movement, and then, after a couple of minutes, we could see the same choreography repeated by the other two couples. The amount of team work portrayed in the dance was remarkable.

Apart from the movements and the energy of the dancers, what I found interesting were the costumes. In the first presentation they appeared with black robes, which could be used in different ways. When they were representing trees, they used some clothes made of latex which made it more elastic.

In conclusion, I loved watching dances for a change and I couldn’t help myself for comparing actors and dancers. I wonder, if we add words to a dance, would it make it a theatrical representation? How different are actors from dancers? Do dancers need more energy than actors? Are the 3 principles for rehearsal the same for actors and dancers?