Meet The Choreographers!

Alyssa Casey and Catie Smiley

We are both Juniors majoring in dance, and Catie has a minor in Spanish. Our piece has a contemporary/ modern movement vocabulary. We approached our work with the idea of combining our two different styles to add variety to the concept and movement.  Through this we also wanted to explore how we could be inspired by our dancers in order to continue to develop and work towards a final product.  So far this has been going wonderfully and the dancers have truly helped shape the work we are exploring. We were originally inspired by a piece of artwork that depicted two different textures intertwining to create one work.  We both identified with this image, as it reminded us of our own collaboration in creating this piece as co-choreographers.  Through further exploration of the image we identified that it spoke to us about tension and release.  As a result we are currently working with the essence of relief in our work.Working together as choreographers has been a great experience so far.  It is amazing how one person will have an idea that sparks inspiration in the other person.  Up to this point we have not had any disagreements, keeping the image and essence of our piece in mind, we have agreed upon what is right for our concept.  As a result of the collaboration we have been able to develop work that is diverse and a true intertwining of our skills and personal aesthetic preferences. 

Claire Wyttenbach 

I'm a senior, minoring in Dance. My approach to creating is very different this year compared to last year. Instead of picking dancers that had strengths in different styles of dance, which is what I had wanted last year, I selected dancers that all could move expressively in the same style. I also began with a very ambiguous idea this year compared to last year when I had everything planned before the school year even began. The approach definitely gives me more freedom and choice as a choreographer, and I am enjoying working in this way so far. I was inspired to create this Lyrical/Contemporary piece from the feeling of being lonely even in a crowd of people. I sometimes experience this when I am surrounded by couples because although I am in a relationship, I can never spend time with my boyfriend with him being in the military.