By Raveena Rahman, December 12, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona held a dance concert focused on topics such as overuse of technology, abortion laws, social issues and environmental destruction Dec. 5 at the Bronco Recreational and Intramural Complex.
The concert, directed by theatre and new dance lecturer Jeremy Hahn, featured performances from students in choreography, dance theatre, site-specific performance event and modern/contemporary dance, and directed by lecturer Jeremy Hahn, who works in the Department of Theatre & New Dance.
Hahn required his students to re-world a topic of their choice, meaning they used a call to action to fix an existing worldly issue.
“The purpose is to give the student-dance artists an opportunity to investigate the theme of re-worlding,” Hahn said. “The idea of taking an existing issue or sociopolitical construct that isn’t working and utilizing performances as a means to transform that and to offer a speculative version of the future.”
He also required students to choose a site on campus near the BRIC to showcase their piece, and to find a way to engage with the audience.
“Through poetry, dance and site-specific performance, the student-dance artists embody choreographies of care that examine systems of inequity and utilize performance as a space of imaginative possibility and futurity,” Hahn said.
Hahn stated he chose this theme in particular due to the current polarizing state of the social climate in America.
“As an artist and an educator, I asked myself, ‘How can I find methods that really look at and uphold the university idea of learn by doing?’” Hahn said. “I wanted students to utilize our embodied experiences through choreography, dancing and dance theater as a way to implement new ideas and also propel them (students) into potential conversations with others who experience them as well.”
The concert consisted of seven performances, including both solos and group performances. Family and friends of performers attended to show support.
One group performance called “sovereignty” explored abortion rights and the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The performance began with two female students dancing as a male student standing among the audience repeatedly chanted from the crowd, “your body, my choice,” as he walked toward the performers.
He proceeded to go behind them and held his hands over their heads as the two women moved along with his hand gestures. The motions resembled a puppet master controlling his puppets.
At the end of the performance, theater student Tessa Specks gave an speech about her wish of making our world safe for all women by protecting their rights.
“Abortion rights are crucial to the livelihood of women,” Specks said. “I want the audience members to still be enraged about what happened. I want them to do something about the states that currently don’t have the legislation protection to have the abortions that may be medically necessary or personally or mentally necessary for individuals who can have children.”
Another performance called “War Against the Planet” explored humanity’s destructive environmental impact.
During the performance, theater student Giselle Aguilar wore a white dress and laid on the ground against a tree, representing a beautiful dying planet.
Aguilar concluded her piece by asking the audience: “Do you think I’m pretty? What if I chopped off my legs or arms? Would you still think I’m pretty?”
Her words evoked gasps from audience members and urged them to think deeper about the topic.
Similarly, in the piece called “Island,” the performer danced in a mask the entire time and finally took it off at the end to showcase how a person cannot hide their true identity.
“The Window We Hold in Our Hands,” which represented the growing disconnect people have with reality due to technology, required the audience to watch from their phone cameras.
Similarly, the performer in “Walk Through Serenity” required the audience to trail behind him and follow his dance moves, inspired by Mayan culture.
“’A Walk Through Serenity’ is a walk of appreciation for the earth, the ground we step on and our beautiful skies,” theater student Danny Menjiver said. “We appreciate and thank mother nature for this opportunity.”
Audience member and political science student Joseph Rivas, who was unable to showcase his piece due to personal reasons, expressed Hahn’s class was challenging for him.
“I have never done theatre or dance, so it was difficult for me at times,” Rivas said. “I had to really push myself in his class. But the class was very rewarding and allowed me to be comfortable doing things I normally would not do.”
The choreographed performances and the topics discussed were eye-opening and provoked important discussions.
“We dance and we use bold and vivid imagery to make our audience uncomfortable with what they’re seeing because this is not a comfortable topic,” Specks said. “We want them to feel enraged, disgusted and uncomfortable while viewing.”
Feature image courtesy of Raveena Rahman
