Jeff

Tampa Bay's "Shoes At The Door" Modern Dance Company. Summer 2011 Concert: "From The Floor Up."

This piece, "Afloat" was choreographed and danced by Brooke Bissell, Danielle Boe, and Sadie Lehmker. Lighting Design by Jeff Boe. Master Electrician, Kristen Geisler. Stage Manager, Ivan Cano.

"Afloat": Buoyed by each other, the dancers remain connected while exploring individual movements and ensemble interactions. Tether lines keep the dancers from drifting past the possibility of reconnection.

In the first section of the piece, we find the dancers slowly moving in broken-up pool of light, dimly lit by the shins in complementing shades of R02 & R04. This combination of colors, enhanced by the amber shift created by running the lights at low intensity, creates a wrap of steamy light in the hazy shadows. We observe the dancers, floating in this pool, as they counterbalance each other, sharing weight, offering support. They are complementary forces, similar but not identical, like the related shades of light rendering their world.

Towards the end of the piece, the music breaks, and the stage brightens. Movements become larger, and the space between dancers opens up. The shins gain intensity (cooling the tone of the R02 & R04), and a toplight wash of R75 takes prominence onstage. This amped-up "Tipton" look, modulated by the template wash, counters the warm-toned tensions of the beginning state, and helps to create a mood of resolution as the dance comes to a close.