Procreation, loss and slasher films — the Cal State Long Beach Dance Department’s MFA debut thesis concert offers all these themes in “Beyond The Pale,” a presentation of three new dance works by choreographers Francesca Jandasek, Courtney Ozovek and Nate Hodges.
The concert presents a wide range of themes from critical observation of modern life while and womanhood in relation to creation and artistic expression. The connection between human memory and human loss as well as the role of spectacle and violence in contemporary culture today also take stage.
Jandasek’s performance, “The Immured Woman” questions the relationship between femininity and origin both in an evolutionary and artistic sense.
“I was really interested in the ideas of creation, procreation and immortality,” Jandasek said. “The immured theme [of being walled in] is a metaphor that plays a lot [with] being trapped by one’s decisions, one’s expectations, one’s desires and wishes.”
The line between art and procreation becomes blurred and darker themes of immortality and sacrifice arise as Jandasek’s work is displayed through a multimedia presentation of choreography, film projections and musical score. All sound, visual art and digital projections are original and new arrangements.
“I have put tons of hours building absolutely every component from scratch,” Jandasek said. “This work is deeply personal and comes from a very raw place [from] choices I’ve made, things that haven’t worked out…things the body does or doesn’t do, things that are beyond [my] control. I’m trying to figure out my purpose as a woman and an artist, which is what spurred the philosophical and conceptual nature of the work.”
In another work deeply personal to the artist, Ozovek’s “Hiraeth” explores an intra-personal journey through the relationship between human emotion and traumatic experience.
“I was initially inspired to create this work after losing my father and my stepfather,” Ozovek said. “While the circumstances of their passing were extremely different, I noticed the parallels along the disparities between the way I processed each loss and the recovery time after.”
Viewers will be taken through a physical exploration of the effect distance, location and memories have on the reaction to a lost loved one. “Hiraeth” also features video projections created in collaboration with Gregory Crosby.
“I remember distinctly a moment when I was…going through all of my dad’s belongings in his house,” Ozovek said “There was so much hustle and bustle going on around me from everyone trying to help, but I felt so small and isolated. I’m hoping that the projections will assist in the presentation of those ideas.”
Contrasting sharply to the deeply personal themes of Jandasek and Ozovek’s pieces, Hodges’ “Thesis of Blood” immediately drops into a world of blood, satire and meta-commentary. Hodges’ work delves in a world of graphic violence and spectacle, inspired by films such as “Halloween”, “Scream” and “Friday the 13th.” The performance is a show within a show that follows Hodges going through dress rehearsals when a killer enters and begins picking the cast off one-by-one.
“I think that being scared is a valid emotion,” Hodges said “People [want] to cry and they want to laugh, but I also think that sometimes we need to explore the things that drive our fear responses.”
Hodges cited Chris Dumas, a psychoanalytic film theorist, as the reason he was interested in exploring the concept of horror and fear in the human psyche as a part of this work.
“I think it was [Dumas] who said one should really take notice of what scares them and pay really close attention to that so they can ask themselves why,” Hodges said.
Hodges, who has explored supernatural qualities, ghosts and cannibalism in his past work, draws choreographic inspiration from creators such as Wes Craven and Joss Whedon, whose work comments on their own genre.
“Both of those movies are meta…and I just think they’re so brilliant,” Hodges said. “I was like, ‘Well, can I do that with theatre?’”
“Beyond the Pale” will be performed at 8 p.m. March 15-17 in the Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theater. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $16 for Dance Resource Center members and seniors, students, faculty and staff with valid ID. Tickets are available at www.csulb.edu/dance or at the College of the Arts Box Office on Atherton Street.