Eisenhower Dance Ensemble visits Muskingum

   On Tuesday, Jan. 17 a nationally acclaimed contemporary dance company performed at Muskingum. The Eisenhower Dance Ensemble  (EDE)performed in the Caldwell Hall theater for the second time. The EDE has performed at Muskingum once before, and was one of the first acts to perform when the theater was built.

   The performance Tuesday night  lasted a little over an hour, but it took months to put together.

   "It takes about a week to put a dance together," said EDE founder Laurie Eisenhower. "So if we're performing five dances, it could take five to six weeks, or a couple months to put it together."

   Eisenhower also directs a very talented ensemble of dancers, many of whom have been dancing for upwards of 18 years.

   "We have very strong, versatile dancers that have strong training in ballet, modern jazz and other styles too," said Eisenhower. "I also think that the choreography has a real diverse repertory. Every program, I try to have a little bit of drama and a little bit of pure movement works."

   The EDE's visit to campus didn't only include the performance. Marry Devitt, an instructor of the EDE, taught the Dance for Musical Theater class earlier the same day.

   "I taught them a basic modern dance class," said Devitt. "We basically just started with some of the core concepts of modern dance, and we ended the class with a piece of EDE repertory from our Mowtown in Motion concert."

   The EDE performed seven dances, in styles ranging from romantic, to unusual, to comedic. The first dance, Threads, was a romantic, balletic piece which Eisenhower recently choreographed.

   The program also contained a piece titled The Nature of Human, which in Eisenhower's own words, was "an interesting work" by choreographer Elizabeth Shea.

   It was broken into three segments—Mind Maze, Body Talk, and Spirit Tracings—and each section had its own unique imagery and sound. Mind and Body each used video projections to add to the mood of the dance, while Spirit abandoned the projections and used draped costumes to create an aura of ghostliness.

   Two pieces of comedy were also performed. Eisenhower's The Music Lesson, and renowned choreographer Harrison McEldowney's Dance Sport.

   In The Music Lesson, a recording of a man gives a lecture on music plays, and the dancers embody the words he says; when the man talks about pitch, for example, the dancers pretend to throw a ball. As the piece goes on, the dancers feign fatigue and also pretend to argue in a comical fashion.

   Dance Sport's version of humor is a little different. In this piece, the dancers pretend to do various sports—from synchronized swimming to basketball.

   As they dance, there is a commentary going on about their movements, much like what one hears when watching sports. During one scene, instant replay and slow-motion review are even used so the audience can see why the referee called a foul.

   After the performance, there was a small reception in the lobby, where audience members were able to meet with Eisenhower and the dancers.