Heather Heiner and Professor Pat Debenham, Dance
There is much beauty in the natural world that leaves me, as a dancer, stimulated with choreographic ideas. It was through the collaborative medium of dance and photography that I sought to share those experiences with others. I traveled with three other dancers from the BYU dance department and a photographer, Erin Holmberg, to Arches National Park, where we explored the connections and similarities between the human form and the elements of the natural environment. The visual aspect of the experience was captured through photography. We utilized the environment on both a large and small scale, with some improvisations being in response to expansive landscapes while other focused on specific formations. The results of the improvisations were then used to create a choreographic piece to be performed in the winter semester Dancensemble concert.
In order to maximize our time while in Arches, I made a day trip a few weeks previous to the photo shoot, to select the most promising and accommodating sites. This proved most successful in salvaging precious daylight hours, shortened during the winter season. I came prepared with several ideas, already having frequented the area on numerous occasions, yet my role as director was more supervisory, inviting and attempting to coordinate the spontaneity of the three dancers and the photographer.
Early spring proved to be the only time in which I could showcase my project in a concert situation. Whereas the very foundation of the choreography was to originate from the field study, I found it necessary to schedule the on-site photo session for the second weekend in January. I realized that this was certainly not the most ideal season to be dancing out of doors, yet due to the restrictive time frame, assumed it a necessary inconvenience. The frigid weather proved to be the most challenging obstacle involved in the project. Whereas I had hoped to allow the dancers time to meditate upon and interact with their surroundings, their minds were kept occupied by the frozen state of their feet. (Their willingness to endure such conditions for the sake of the project was touching.) Due to the circumstances with which we were faced, the photography was much more based on shapes and poses rather than locomotive improvisations.
Despite the unavoidable setbacks we were rewarded for our tenacity with some intriguing and beautiful shots. I used specific movements, shapes, movement qualities, and energy that was generated through the dancers and captivated in the photography in creating the piece. In addition to the photography and my own corresponding documentation, the actual experience of the participating dancers enhanced the depth and reality of the choreography in both process and performance immeasurably.
The best slides were incorporated into the performance by projecting them onto the scrim, corresponding with the choreography, in some cases exactly, and in others more subtly. The selected shots were also made into poster-size prints and put on display. In an attempt to further develop the reality of the contoured environment I molded formations of draped chicken wire to appear as sandstone on stage. Providing the audience with the combined visual images of dance and the source Erin Holmberg, Photographer Above: Nicole Rowe, Heidi Barnes, and Molly Smith in an interactive shot near the Fiery Furnace. of inspiration, the ethereal landscapes and formations of Arches National Park, more completely expressed the relationship between the human body and the other creations of the earth. It was my hope that this would generate within the members of the audience, previously undiscovered ideas and contemplation on the supreme intelligence of God in his act of creation.
