dance – The Oberlin Review

AndWhat!? Fall Show “Vulnerability is Power” Opens Tonight

December 13, 2019

It is impossible to sit in on an AndWhat!? rehearsal and not be blown away by the power and energy they build. In their drive to rehearse each piece again and again until it is just right, and their ability to channel complicated and raw emotions into moving pieces, the group’s hard work, energy, and talent are palpable. AndWhat!? is a powerhouse hip-hop group that slays each performance, and creates an important space at Oberlin. “AndWhat!? was founded [in 1999] on the idea of Black female...

Neva Cockrell and Raphael Sacks, OC ’09

October 4, 2019

Raphael Sacks and Neva Cockrell, two Oberlin alumni, performed their dance-theater work Prime in the Warner Main Space this past Wednesday. The two created their own ensemble company, Loom Ensemble, and have also worked with the Art Monastery Project, which they now run out of a communal living farm in Vermont. Cockrell also dances with the renowned company Pilobolus. They spoke to the Review about their focus on collaborative art making, and the paths they have taken building careers in a creative fi...

Competition, Athleticism, or Something Else Entirely: What Makes A Sport?

Khalid McCalla, Contributing Sports Editor

September 20, 2019

Across the globe, people are playing, watching, and interacting with sports on a daily basis. Most children are put on a sports team from an early age and, for some, that initial love of sports never fades. However, despite the fact that sports as a concept is an integral part of society, both at Oberlin and in the world, there is still no general consensus about what a sport really is. There is the mainstream list that includes football, basketball, soccer, baseball, and a few others that are legitimized as sports by the presence of high-profile major leagues and million-dollar television deals at the collegiate and professional levels. However, a larger portion of potential “sports” exist on the outskirts of the conversation...

A Look Behind the Scenes: Choreographing Physical Intimacy

September 13, 2019

As a younger actor, I remember times when I sat across from the actor playing my romantic interest, each of us stumped by the next line in the script: “The two share a passionate kiss.” “Let’s skip that part,” I’d suggest, timidly. While it’s possible to side-step around this stage direction for the first few weeks of rehearsal, the moment inevitably comes when the intimate scene must get staged. In my experience, what follows has ranged from giggling teenage awkwardness t...

Talise Campbell, Director of Dance Show “Tracing Our Roots”

May 3, 2019

Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Dance Talise Campbell is the director of this weekend’s Oberlin Dance Company show, Tracing Our Roots: A Look Into the Past As We Move Into the Future. The show, which will also includes work from her two other classes this semester, features the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute, a Cleveland-based organization where Campbell is the artistic director and founder. Djapo is a Wolof word meaning “come together.” Campbell has had an impressive career as...

In The Locker Room with Sean Kuo, College Junior, Fencer, Club Sport Athlete, and Pre-Med Student

April 26, 2019

While “In The Locker Room” interviews often focus on members of the Oberlin community associated with varsity athletics, College junior Sean Kuo is a prime example of the flexibility and fun that can be found through participating in Oberlin’s many club sports and activities. Kuo’s friendly presence and love for exercise make regular appearances at nearly five clubs around campus; primarily the club fencing team, Club Aikido, and the Movimiento dance crew — all while he majors in Biol...

In The Locker Room with Clare Tiedemann, Track and Field First-Year

Alexis Dill, Sports Editor

April 5, 2019

A native of New York City, College first-year Clare Tiedemann came to Oberlin with a plethora of interests. She sings, dances, plays piano and guitar, is interested in wildlife and environmental conservation, and competes in almost every event for the track and field team. She broke the school record in the indoor 60-meter hurdles at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships this past winter and looks to be a key competitor in the hurdles and long jump for the squad this spring. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Your nickname on the track team is Sticky Spaghetti. Can you explain? That was from something my coach said at one point. He put a bunch of people ...

Ohio 5 Dance Conference Returns to Oberlin, Builds Community

March 1, 2019

Now in its sixth year, the annual Ohio 5 Dance Conference returned to Oberlin last Saturday for the first time since its inception. The event, which 78 people attended, brought together dance students and faculty from the Five Colleges of Ohio, a consortium of liberal arts schools that includes Kenyon College, Denison University, Ohio Wesleyan University, and The College of Wooster. The conference has proven to be an invaluable opportunity for faculty and staff to share their knowledge and form a...

Senior Dance Students Impress with Creative Performances

November 16, 2018

This past weekend saw the presentation of incredible senior shows from two Dance majors. I sat down with Tian Yoon Teh to talk about Embrace Me: A Dance Opera, and will share my personal perspective from working tech on Teddy Ment’s Nova. To create Embrace Me, the first of the evening’s shows, Yoon Teh took on an ambitious pre-production process that included storyboarding, which began last semester, a variety of experimental explorations, and finally a nine-week production schedule. “In t...

Oberlin Dance Department Celebrates its Ranking Among Nation’s Top 25 Programs

October 5, 2018

In my junior year of high school, my lifelong dance teacher told me that she hoped there was a strong dance program wherever I chose to go to college, because she was sure I would miss it. I nodded politely, sure she was wrong. During my college search, I barely considered dance — and yet, I spent much of my first semester at Oberlin rapturously watching dance, writing about dance, and fangirling over the pieces being created here and the amazing dancers doing the creating. When I began to...

Female, Trans, Femme Dance Group Throws Back with PowerPuff Girls

Ananya Gupta, Arts & Culture Editor

May 11, 2018

POC Powerpuff Girls performing hip-hop to the tunes of Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna is the perfect end to a gruelling semester at Oberlin. AndWhat!?, Oberlin’s hip-hop dance group for female, trans and femme identifying students, will be performing their spring show “AndWhat!? Presents: Powerpuff Girls Remixed” on Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12 at 8 p.m. For those unfamiliar with The Powerpuff Girls, the theme refers to the Cartoon Network show that premiered in 1992 and featured three female superhero sisters who protect their town from crime. Rather than showcasing masculine superwomen, the show was surprisingly progressive for its time, illustrating feminine characters who kick ass — a perfect ...

Varsity Contact Class Highlights Improv Dance in “One Breath”

Kate Fishman, Staff Writer

May 4, 2018

Amidst Monday’s rehearsal for Oberlin Dance Company’s upcoming show, College sophomore Georgie Johnson ran up to College junior Gabrielle Ment. Both made a show of a common exercise for starting out lifts in contact improvisation — breathing the arms up and then sweeping them down for momentum — before Johnson launched onto Ment’s shoulders and spiraled in the air, lifted by her partner, spreading her limbs wide and grinning even wider. They spun like a human top. Smiles like that are one striking aspect of the Varsity Contact class performance in “One Breath: An Evening of Stillness and Motion.” It makes sense that this would punctuate the practice — contact is wordless, while also completely improvise...