Blue Moves invites audiences on 'Guided Tour' of modern dance at Renaissance Center
Release Date: 2/20/2008. Expired: 3/15/2008
Blue Moves Modern Dance Company presents The Guided Tour at The Renaissance Center in Dickson on Saturday, March 15. This Murfreesboro-based company relishes multi-media and interdisciplinary approaches to dance, incorporating spoken word and visual art into various works. Their latest show seeks to involve the audience on a more intimate level, inviting them on a Guided Tour.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. performance are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 55 and over and $8 for children 12 and under.
The Guided Tour will give audience members a chance to become acquainted with the dances before they enter the theater, reaching through the usual barrier between performer and observer. Through an interactive pre-show tour and displays, audience members will have a chance to engage in a more personal and informed perspective on the art. They will see images of motifs explored in the dances, will have the opportunity to participate in brief kinesthetic experiences related to dance themes, and even contribute their personal touch to some of the costuming.
Dances on the program include iMiss the World, which takes a humorous yet poignant look at how personal technological devices such as cell phones and music players can cause self-isolation from people and the world. This piece incorporates spoken word from the proem The Last Big Thing by local writer Jonathan Harrison. Co-choreographer Lee Anne Carmack says that "the most amusing thing about this piece is that it highlights the relationships and chance meetings that people miss because they are so tuned into their electronic worlds, and yet it is directly because of the unique human relationships within this company that iMiss has grown into such a thought-provoking and entertaining piece."
The company's pieces range from finding humor in the mundane in such works as Spin Cycle, which explores what laundry is up to in the washing machine, to stirring social and politically inspired works. Choreographer and founding member Amanda Cantrell Roche, known for incorporating her passion for social justice into compelling movement, will premiere Breaking the Bones: A Plea for Tibet. Roche hopes to bring to the audience an appreciation of the universal themes of compassion and non-violence practiced by Tibetans, despite the oppression they have endured under the Chinese government.
"Apart from including a few representations of customs and movements such as the prostrations, I’m making no attempt to present this as authentic Tibetan dance or movement,” explains Roche. “Conversely, it is a response to the struggle and enduring spirit of Tibetans from a very Western viewpoint which uses modern dance -- a form born in America -- as the language through which to communicate.”
Interspersed within the dance are voice recordings of a narrator and quotes by a Tibetan exile living in Nashville.
Other works, such as Angela Armstrong's Nightmare and Laura Filtness and Christy Rose's Chaos and Clarity, explore themes of the human subconscious. Nightmare confronts personal fears and how they are manifested in dreams. Chaos and Clarity, an abstract work, examines the chaos that lies in the mind and how it manifests in the external world. Expect a variety of both fun and moving dance works from this unique group of performers.
Founded in 1989, Blue Moves Modern Dance Company is a unique company of dancers and choreographers bringing fresh ideas to Middle Tennessee theaters and audiences. Blue Moves began as a creative outlet for three Middle Tennessee State University students who were seeking a more cohesive, modern-focused dance experience than what was available through the university at the time. With the support of now-retired MTSU dance professor Anne V. Holland and the addition of three more members, the group began Sunday rehearsals at Studio V on the square in Murfreesboro.
Years later, the company continues to evolve into what the Nashville Scene calls "one of Murfreesboro's hidden treasures." Much of Blue Moves' longevity can be credited to fact that there is no single artistic director or so-called leader. The company has always been very democratic in its decision-making process. All members are expected to dance immediately and encouraged to choreograph one year after joining the company. With the exception of a few core cohorts, the company routinely modifies its membership and is continually re-inventing itself. This approach provides not only new choreographic visions for the audience, but also new voices and perspectives in the company, thus keeping both the performances and the rehearsals fresh.
Blue Moves has performed several full-length productions at MTSU's Tucker and Wright Theatres and the Murfreesboro/Rutherford County Center for the Arts, as well as producing shows at Montgomery Bell Academy, Manchester's Parnassus Theatre, the Darkhorse Theatre and at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Johnson Theatre as part of Nashville's Summer Lights celebration. They also have performed at TPAC's Jackson Hall in collaboration with Nashville choreographer Rossi Turner, at MTSU's Murphy Center with the Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra and at Vanderbilt's Langford Auditorium in the opening ceremony of the national student activists' C.O.O.L. Conference.
The company was selected to perform at the Gaylord Entertainment Center during the after-hours party for Nashville Cares' annual Artrageous fund raiser. Recently, Blue Moves appeared at Vanderbilt's Ingram Hall in conjunction with the production Tsunami Echoes, Katrina Cries. They also enjoy performing in non-traditional venues, such as Murfreesboro's Wallstreet bar, the lawn in front of MTSU's Art Barn and at the Asheville Fringe Festival. Company members have often appeared with vaudeville art rock band Juan Prophet Organization.
For information regarding Blue Moves Modern Dance Company, visit www.bluemoves.org or contact Valerie Hackworth at (615) 867-3736 or vhackworth@gmail.com, Amanda Cantrell-Roche at (615) 300-8580 or amanda.c.roche@gmail.com or Christy Rose at (615) 364-8905 or christyrose@gmail.com.
For more information on the Blue Moves Modern Dance Company performance at The Renaissance Center, call (615) 740-5600 or visit www.rcenter.org. To purchase tickets, call (615) 740-5601.
The Renaissance Center is a fine arts education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.
Visit the Dance page for more about dance at The Renaissance Center.