'MiDi' combines beauty, technology
By Aaron Bokros
Old Gold and Black Reviewer

Imagine that you had the ability to wave your hand and make sound. Or by undulating your torso, you could produce music. The entirety of your body is devoted to controlling the production of one tone, one song, one chord.

In watching the alban elved dance company perform their piece “MiDi” in rehearsal Dec. 6, I was able to witness something I had never seen before. Music and movement seemed to become one. When watching a conventional dance piece, it had always fascinated me how close dancers come to making themselves one with the rhythm, notes and beauty of the music.

They move with it, as if their inner strings were attached to every nuance and subtlety contained within a passage of music. We have all felt it at some point or another, even if it is as simple as standing close to a speaker and feeling a bass note resonate in your chest. Some part of your body has just been prodded, pulled or touched by music. What is different about the dancers of alban elved is that they can do the same thing, but rather than the music controlling their movements, they control the music.

Through a complicated system of lasers and MIDI triggering units, the three dancers were able to trigger the starting and stopping of pieces of music. The pieces ranged from full songs to individual tones, all controlled by eight lasers running the width of the stage.

Each time a laser was broken, a signal was sent to a sampling machine that would play the corresponding music clip. At points, clips could be started and stopped with the laser; at other points, the music would only play when the body of a dancer was interrupting the laser.

Alban elved is based in Winston-Salem and is comprised of three dancers. The dancers, choreographer Karola Lüttringhaus and dancers Andrea Lieske and Catherine Lewan, ’00, move in a trio ensemble, in pairs or solo throughout the hour-and-10-minute piece.

The stage is set with the eight lasers, two large backdrops and three chairs upstage, each with a bare light bulb and an outfit of clothes hanging above it. The three dancers entered in darkness. Each of them turned their own light on and proceeded to dress themselves.

At some point, the first laser was broken and a low tone was sent trembling through the house. They broke more beams on the way to the edge of the stage, triggering more music, more tones. The women would dance in ensemble, then move to solo movements, perhaps with the other two dancing together. All the while, their bodies would snake under a beam to avoid it or move into its path, a momentary red dot on their torso revealing the laser.

What struck me the most while watching the company was the element of control. On a base level, the dancers had to control their bodies to move in precise time with the music they were creating. They had to move under lasers, carefully avoiding them as to not interrupt a woman speaking or trigger an undulating bass note.

On another level, these women were controlling the music. They had full control over what was played and heard, thereby moving the music to their bodies. Furthermore, there were elements of control within the lighting, costuming, and setting of the piece.

At several points, the women were confined by pool of light on the stage. Jon Christman, designer and lecturer of theater, designs all the lights for the company. Christman’s design gave freedom to the piece at some points and penned it in at others.

A particularly stirring moment occurred early on in the piece when Lewan, solo, struggled and moved within a four-foot pool of light. At first, the dancer seemed to be constrained by the space, but then became comfortable and more relaxed within it. She moved more fluidly, exploring the edges of her light prison.

The dancers were also controlled by their costumes. At first, they seemed to have an industrial, working attire. This would change later into simple black dresses that allowed for more freedom. Several times there were changes and struggles with costumes onstage, the frustration with the claustrophobia inducing clothes was apparent in both action and facial expressions.

The dancers were even controlled by themselves, pushing and pulling each other, sometimes lifting each other off the stage floor. About two- thirds of the way through the show, Luttringhaus and Lieske performed a terribly evocative duet. The two moved with such each and fluidity, it was hard to tell them apart sometimes. Themes of uniformity, control and confinement ran the length of the piece. By the end, each dancer had discovered their ability and their inability to control the music. Through the use of technology, these dancers have bridged the gap between music and movement. “MiDi” touches on issues of personal space, relationships, conformity, abandonment and above all, control.

The ability of the three dancers is not in question at all, individually and as a whole. The beautiful images and emotions evoked by the piece were due in most part to the total commitment of the dancers, both physically and emotionally.

The company will perform at 8 p.m. Dec. 6 - 8 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 9 in the MainStage Theater. The cost is $5 for university students and $12 for adults.