Photo Credit: William Hebert / BH Photos
In this photo: Lyndi Shivak, Sophia Rabinovitz

75 Cents for a Transfer!
Temple’s BFA Seniors Make An Important Stop.
by Kathleen Glynn for the Dance Journal

On Friday, December 4^th, and Saturday, December 5^th, Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance presented “75 Cents for a Transfer: This is Our Stop!” at the Conwell Dance Theater.  Senior BFA dance majors Talia Barrows, Kaitlyn Clark, and Jeanette Wyche (all transfer students to Temple University!) composed a beautiful concert, which clearly demonstrated an abundance of knowledge, experience, and professionalism.

Ms. Jeanette Wyche’s piece, entitled “Sulle Onde (On the Waves) transcended images of water, waves, and life, and fluid cascading emotions of infinity, fear, and ambiguity.   The performers embodied aquatic qualities within their dancing, shedding a fluid and flowing characteristic to the movement.  Ms. Wyche chose brilliant spacing designs.  All of the spacing within “Sulle Onde” supported ideas of an overwhelming body of water and reflections of actual waves.   The piece also painted a narrative outline, establishing an apparent relationship between one dancer, intended to maintain humanistic qualities and four dancers engrossed in water-like movements.  The choreographer achieved this narrative through her spacing designs, innovative movement, and musical choices.  “Sulle Onde” ultimately portrayed gorgeous, fluid lines and images while also sketching a universal and transferable theme for the audience.

“Bound Liasons”, choreographed by Ms. Kaitlyn Clark, was inspired by the burdens and drain of all types of relationships.  The piece explored the push and the pull, the giving and the taking, of a relationship, and more specifically the frequent imbalance of these two.  Ms. Clark presented absolutely fitting choreography and partner work.  The quartet successfully achieved emotions of frustration, exhaustion, and disheartenment as individual dancers and in sharing each other’s energies.  “Bound Liasons” also incorporated a touching collage of voices sharing past experiences and scars born from relationship abuse and personal mistakes.   “Bound Liasons” exposed the pain often uncovered in relationships; the piece took the audience to a place one may naturally yearn to forget or brush over.  But “Bound Liasons” destined its audience, through dance, to a place that needs to be remembered in order for one to learn and to grow.

Ms. Talia Barrows’ “Rita’s Song” was a stunning tribute to the choreographer’s Grandmother and a joyful celebration of the life she led.  The piece was filled to the brim with energy, love, and history.  Ms. Barrows included a perfect amount of visual effects to clearly progress through her grandmother’s life, early childhood and onward.  The use of eleven dancers supported an uplifting sensation of excitement and jubilation.  The choreographer’s brisk and vigorous movement kept the memory and presence of Rita alive onstage, enthralling the audience without interruption.  Ms. Barrows crafted glimpses of heritage and family history not only through visual stimulation, but by also simultaneously establishing scenes of her Grandmother’s everyday life, such as jumping rope.  “Rita’s Song” was a true triumphant fusion of commemoration, excellent dancing, family traditions, and hope.

BFA dance major seniors Talia Barrows, Kaitlyn Clark and Jeanette Wyche truly displayed an array of choreographic and performance knowledge throughout each senior work.  It was refreshing to see few similarities in movement, theme, and music.  These transfer students made “75 Cents for a Transfer” a stop worth stopping at!