Dance 287 - Lighting for Choreography Fall 2019

 I took these photos during tech rehearsals of New Slate this past week. It reminded me of "passion" in an interesting way. Passion makes me think of fervor and frenzy. When I think of passion, I think of uncontrollable, intense feelings. The photo on the left reminds me of the feeling of frenzy and intensity. The way the light is both striking and diffused at the same time makes me feel the uncontrollable excitement that passion can produce. The photo on the right makes me think of passion in another sense. This type of passion is the passion that makes all the work worth it. It is the ongoing feeling that drives me to continue when the work gets hard and the morale gets low. The lighting in this piece is stark and bare, it reminds me of the time when passion comes in to save me. D=It is during these stark, vulnerable times that the passion for what I do makes me continue on and makes it all worthwhile. As the quarter comes to a close, I am thankful for the passion. It

Passion My Destiny   Stretch, ___ dance, Scatter into the sky.  Fly, before I die. Drift, Float away, Delicate wish from a weed. Faith, slip away.  Passing breeze, conceal with despair, Lifting my body into the sky. Inhaling the air, dangling down. Where is home?   "Poof"   The destiny of dandelion. Passer by,  unrewarded eye. The light falls, Echos of solitude. Touch me with your wanderer's breath.  

© (2019) UC Regents, all rights reserved. Photo by Leandro Glory Damasco Jr.  In preparation for this year's New Slate dance concert, I spent several hours working at tech-rehearsals. During one of our final run-throughs, this photo was taken of my dancers soaring in mid-air. The crimson colored "cyc", down-lighting, and the back-lit triangle were all collaborative ideas put forth by my lighting designer, Nita Mendoza and I. In particular, the triangle symbol represents fire in the ancient practice of alchemy. Our intention behind the lighting was to create a warm environment that supported the dancers internal passion and pursuit of self elevation.  

Lampyridae This quarter I was selected as a choreographer for the New Slate Dance Concert. It was an amazing experience because it allowed me to share my passion for tap dancing. Although I wasn’t a performer  in the show, I was blessed with a cast of talented dancing musicians. It was actually the first time that I’ve been able to work with a large group of “true advance” tappers. Not only did they bring my choreographic vision to life; they inspired me with their commitment, intelligence, unity, and their aspirations to further the exposure of tap at UCI. The name of my piece was entitled Lampyridae, which is the name of the species of insects called fireflies. The dance represented individuality within community togetherness. During this process we all became family. The glass jar in the photo with black and silver text was a gift from my beloved fireflies. Inside is a battery pack covered by a thin sheet of white wrapping tissue paper. It’s connected to a string of white

This post is about how grateful I am for Professor Alcaraz sharing his passion for Lighting with our class. As fall quarter draws to a close, I am struck by how quickly one's mind can be influenced and made to grow for the better.  Through our professor's thoughtful instruction about light, my world has opened to seeing and creating new possibilities.  Take the first image below...at first glance, the bright orange and yellow light could possibly be a fire and the thick smoke it produces.  But if we widen the lens, we see the warm light of the sun, beaming through clouds in the sky above.  I love how my perception of light has been piqued through this experience.  Although I know the class is over, I know for sure that I will always now appreciate lighting design, whether divinely created by Mother Nature, or by a talented TA.  So yeah, as I watch this gorgeous Sunday Sunset, the feelings I have are appreciation and excitement for my personal en"light"enment! Onward

© 2019 UC Regents, all rights reserved. Photo by Leandro Glory Damasco Jr.  This weekend I had the honor and the pleasure of working with Savannah Van Leuvan, a first year graduate lighting designer with New Slate 2019. My piece was called "Qualitative Dispute" and this picture captures the final moment of my dance. One of my main passions in life is dance, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to focus and grow in what I love to do. The piece initially starts off in a stark, isolated world where everyone is very robotic with their movements and eventually, the viewer begins to see moments of different people breaking off from the conformity within the group. I remember Savannah and I were brainstorming about how the piece was going to end, and at that time, I had not choreographed the end of the piece.  My piece was mainly about feeling isolated in a vast world and the feeling of the need to compete with others to get to the "top". I realized that