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Show 4 Arts & Entertainment THE SIGNPOST MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2011 *lie Moving Company at WS a -=§1111kbl.N. --- - - s. WSU modern dancers perform original piece Coil on campus, in local schools ow, /M.O. By Chelsea Green correspondent I The Signpost Fifteen dancers move their bodies around a thick rope. Sweat and the sound of padded footfalls hang in the air. Weber State University's Moving Company is practicing. "All of us dancers on Moving Company are really different dancers, who have different body shapes and move differently, but together, we create something amazing," said Laura Stoddard, a dance minor at WSU and a member of WSU's premier modern dance troupe. Dancers in the group come from various dance backgrounds, but work together to create an intricate routine. "It's modern dance," Stoddard said, "which is a lot about expressing yourself through movements that are different from anything else." The Moving Company is part of WSU's Outreach Program. Its goal is to step outside of WSU and get involved in the community. "A few years ago, we went to the Utah School for Deaf and Blind," said Maddi Jones, a dancer and dance education major at WSU. "We worked with the kids and incorporated sign language into our dance piece." The Moving Company has also gone erent elementary schools to teach the students math and geography through dance and movement object lessons. "Statistics show that if there is some type of physical activity involved," Jones said, "children will learn things better, and if they are involved in some type of art form, like dance, their test scores are higher." The Moving Company is rehearsing three times a week to prepare for this year's piece, Coil. The 30-minute piece involves 100 feet of 2-inch-thick rope. Eric Stern, professor of dance at WSU and creator and director of Coil, spent the whole summer researching different types of ASL interpreter helps out Romeo PHOTO BY CRYSTAL CHARRIERE I THE SIGNPOST rope and figuring out what type he wanted to use for this piece. "Coil is a lot about exploring what we can do with the rope," Jones said, "either (with) the rope moving us, us moving the rope, or how we interact with each other and the rope. It really is unbelievable how many things you can do with a rope." Coil also incorporates John Donne's famous poetic sermon, No Man is an Island. "It explores the question of how connected we are to others in society and the world through dance, music and using the rope," Stern said. "This is the most ambitious piece, artistically, we have ever done." See Dance page 8 Weber sings at All-State Choir Chamber Choir specially invited to perform at Utah high schools' state honor choir at All-State as a high school student," said Alex Gerrish, WSU Concert Choir president and DaWeber State University's vis High School alumnus. "We got Chamber Choir performed Sat- to sing with the organ, which was urday night as a special guest at a completely new experience. the Utah All-State Grand Festival I remember sitting on the back Concert. The performance was row of the tenor section, right by held in the historic Salt Lake Tab- the big pipes, trying to watch the ernacle at Temple Square. conductor without getting my "It's a special place to sing," head blown off by the volume of said Rawson Butts, a music edu- the organ." Along with the giant organ, cation major and student conductor in this year's choir. "The which wields a staggering 11,623 sound there, there's a life to it. pipes, the dome-shaped audiIt resonates. You can feel the vi- torium is home to the world-fabrations . . . It tends to pierce the mous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, soul more." and, according to guides at the More than 700 high school venue, is "so acoustically sensichoir students participated in tive that a pin dropped at the this year's All-State Choir from pulpit can be heard clearly at the schools around the state. This back of the hall, 170 feet away." year's performance was led by Choirs from around the state the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's have to fight for bookings in the director, Mac Wilberg, currently concert hall. one of the most recognized cho"It's a really big space," Gerrish ral composers and arrangers in said, "but because the acoustics are the world. so good, it's a very intimate space." "I can remember having sung See Choir page 8 By Kory Wood a&e editor I The Signpost PHOTO BY CRYSTAL CHARRIERE I THE SIGNPOST Jesse Pepe (Romeo) and Kalyn West (Juliet) work through their closing scenes in a dress rehearsal on Friday. The interpreter is given a script about a month or so before the show, so they can read through it and find the meaning "I think it benefits the greater of every line and the most accuBy Briana Drandakis audience in general," said Ame- rate sign translations. Mickelle a&e reporter I The Signpost fia Williams, head coordinator of Smith, one of the assigned interOn Saturday night, Shake- all Weber State University events preters for the performance and speare's Romeo and Juliet, di- requiring ASL translation. "Even a graduating senior this semesrected by Tracy Callahan, was if there is no deaf person in the ter, said the most challenging not only given a modern inter- audience, the rest of the audi- part of interpreting for Romeo and Juliet was deciphering the pretation, but a literal one as ence is seeing something maybe well. American Sign Language they've never seen before, and analogies of Shakespeare into interpreters were added to the maybe they're getting that expo- understandable signs. "It's the symbolism that you show and performed the mean- sure to a little bit of deaf culture ings of the lines spoken on and to American Sign Language have to decide if you want to let stage with their hands out to that they probably wouldn't have the audience figure it out," Smith the audience. access to other wise." See Romeo page 8 Romeo and Juliet one of two shows with American Sign Language interpretation |