Rehearsals are the heartbeat of the show
The third floor of the Core Performance Center at Santa Monica College (SMC) is where it all happens. The long hallway is painted red and lined with a long red bench while shoes are strewn about the floor. The dancers sit, stretch, study, laugh and play here.
They are preparing for Synapse, a contemporary dance performance put on every semester by the SMC Contemporary Dance Ensemble. The dancers are diverse in age and ethnicity, and each one brings their own unique experience, enthusiasm and passion to the show. The energy is palpable in the rehearsal rooms as they practice each piece, over and over, to the count of eight.
Auditions for Synapse begin the first week of the semester. Jae Lee, co-artistic director of Synapse, says there were about 30 students who auditioned to dance this year. “Once they are selected, they get a chance to work with faculty choreographers and guest choreographers,” Lee said.
Student dancer Annie Fleishman, age 26, talked about how the auditions felt like an environment of trust and dignity. She said, “I wouldn’t say it’s a competition… I found a lot of peace in just trusting that whatever is meant to happen is going to happen… Less competition, more community.”
There are three student choreographers this semester, also selected by audition. Lee said, “If students [are chosen] as a student choreographer, they get to create the work [that will be performed in the show]. They work with a costume designer, they have to [think about] how they’re portraying their storyline through the movement. How lighting supports their story, their vision. Then they have to do compositional work for their piece. We do mentor them a lot when it comes to creating their work.”
The choreography style for Synapse is modern contemporary, and represents personal stories of love, strength, speaking one's truth, and a range of emotions.
Michael Howard, a student choreographer, is working on a solo piece called ‘Lone Wolf’. Describing the process, he said, “It started off wildly uncomfortable, because as someone who freestyles, I’m not used to thinking [when I dance]. But when it comes to choreography, you have to come up with a set of movements that can correlate to whatever song you’re dancing to.” He has written his process out on a white board and sits staring at it. “I want to give the crowd a sense of mystery. I want to give the crowd a sense of imagination... The music is gonna be slightly intense. Hopefully the lighting will help too. It’s supposed to give a sense of darkness…”
Several faculty and guest choreographers participate in the show as well. Laura Smyth, a guest choreographer, is full time faculty from Loyola Marymount University. Her piece is contemporary jazz, called ‘Just Because.’ “It’s sort of this idea of dancing in this very stylistic way, that is filled with the aesthetic of the cool, and all of these things that are born out of jazz music.”
She started dancing when she was four in a strict ballet conservatory, but also experienced Jamaican dancehall parties and Trinidadian festivals with her family. She discovered jazz when she was around ten years old. “I fell in love with jazz because it felt the most familiar to me, in terms of my training and my cultural heritage.” Smyth said.
Many of the students come back multiple times to dance in Synapse. Student dancer Erille Weiss, age 20, has performed in the show twice before. “Synapse has just been the most incredible experience. I’ve grown up dancing my whole life, but I felt like my time here has been the most important and the most beneficial to who I am as a dancer,” said Weiss.
Student dancer Maya Carson, age 20, said, “It’s my last semester, so it’s really going to be fun to just perform with everyone. I love performing. It’s an adrenaline rush.” Carson has been in the show before, and is in three pieces this semester. “When I was in five pieces, it felt like I was either on stage the entire show, or if I wasn’t on stage, I was changing. So it felt like cardio the whole time.”
Lee said, “It’s a full commitment. A lot of students think, Oh I get to perform, and they get in, and the first few weeks they think, ‘this is not what I expected!.’ On top of that, they have to take dance major classes, their academics, and some students are working. So their commitment during this whole production, it’s not something that we underestimate. It’s a full load of school work.”
The commitment is palpable inside the rehearsal rooms, the tension is electric. Sweat glistens, fingers splay, brows furrow. Music clips start, stop, rewind and replay, as dancers work on portions of the dance. The choreographer counts down from five to eight and encourages the dancers to embody the emotion of the piece.
“Intention, intention, intention. Eyes, emotions. Now don’t give me plain turns and jumps. Too many dances have been done like that,” said Seda Aybay, faculty choreographer, as she reminds the dancers to connect with the meaning behind the dance.
The piece Aybay is working on is called ‘Rise,’ inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem ‘Still I Rise.’ “Picture the idea of rising, and speaking your voice, and asking for a change,” she said. “There are so many problems on earth. Choose one. Speak for it.”
In another room, Karen McDonald, faculty choreographer and renowned director of the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, is rehearsing her piece, ‘Short Stories that Live Forever.’ During a break, she encourages the students, pointing out how far they have come, “Do you remember how on the first day I said, by the time we get to this we should be transformed? You are transformed. Do you hear me?”
Student dancer Christopher Devant, age 20, started dancing with McDonald at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy when he was 13. He said, “She’s just been a really big help in my life. She’s been through it all with me in my life... Now that I’m a student here, wow... I’m so grateful that she sees me for me.” He plans to transfer to a four year university and continue dancing, and wants to perform in music videos with celebrities and on Broadway in New York.
Chai Nwagbara is a dance major who has been taking dance classes at SMC for a year, and is performing in four pieces in the show. “I think that everybody is so supportive, students and teachers, making sure that you have the confidence to go out into the real world… whatever it is you want to do [even if it’s] not involved with dance. They really have your back, and you can feel that.”
Synapse will be performed at The Broad Stage at the SMC Performing Arts Center on May 3 & 4, 7:30pm. Tickets are available at smc.edu/tickets.