By Mia Rossi
A viewer watching members of the UCSB Dance Company dance through an empty UC Santa Barbara campus can’t help but reflect about how much the students have missed out on this past year because of the pandemic: in-person rehearsals, live performances, a tour through Europe, and more.
But it becomes clear in the new documentary film, UCSB Dance Company In Flight and On Film, that it's not about what the group has lost, but what its members have learned.
The film premiered last month on Vimeo, followed by a Q&A session with the production team. It kicks off with a sequence of ten solo performances, each choreographed by the dancers themselves, expressing their feelings about the pandemic. Then comes a group piece, Flight, choreographed by creative director, Delilah Moseley. Following these, we see three other films within the film, each featuring a group piece: Pop, choreographed by New York City-based choreographer Caili Quan, Effort of Hope, choreographed by UCSB Dance Company alumna Gianna Burright, and Ride choreographed by Texas-based choreographer Joshua Manculich.
UCSB Dance Company members pose in their costumes for the piece, Effort of Hope by choreographer Gianna Burright. Their pandemic year is documented in a new film. Photo by Stephen Sherrill.
UCSB dance faculty select only outstanding dance majors to participate in the UCSB Dance company during their senior year, and dancers are usually provided with substantial live performance opportunities. “These dancers have been waiting since their freshman year to be in the company,” said Moseley. So, she came up with the film project as an alternative way for them to showcase their talents.
Dancers learned the choreography through Zoom, and, with the help of videographer Samsun Keithley, filmed throughout scenic locations on the UCSB campus. The group wore masks and complied with CDC guidelines throughout the process.
Though disappointed that live performances could not take place this school year, the production team and company members found many silver linings during the virtual choreography and film-making process.
Quan learned that choreographing for film allowed her to give audiences a unique experience. “Film captures all of these really tiny nuances in the body that we miss in a proscenium setting, so it was really interesting to see what I could do in terms of, you know, how to make the smallest gesture really read,” she said.
UCSB Dance Company members film the piece, Ride. Photograph by Stephen Sherrill
Burright, who graduated from UCSB Dance in 2015, said she was able to gain a new perspective as a choreographer and give her students more creative freedom. “It really took my identity as a choreographer to a different place and allowed for me to listen on a deeper level that I hadn't before,” she said. “Dancers have great body awareness and it was just giving creative ideas and seeing where they ran with it and letting them run.”
Another positive outcome for Burright and the dancers came as a result of their struggles with the lag on Zoom, which skewed the timing of the music and the dancer’s movements. A student of hers, Andrew To, began to sing the music for the dancers, which would sinc more closely with their movements than the lagging audio. “Delilah and I were both just blown away by the magic coming out of him,” she said. They decided to feature his singing in the film, which Burright described as a touching moment for both her and the dancers.
Although these seniors did not expect to spend their time in the company learning choreography through a screen, it is evident that they have made the most out of their experience.
In a time characterized by social isolation, the film captures a refreshingly positive message about the power of dance, and the resilience of students. “This year, with the company, I really had to motivate myself to keep working hard every day and to focus on the positives of still being able to dance,” said Dakota Smith, a student member of the company. “Even with challenges like different time zones and COVID, I made it through stronger than ever, alongside my fellow dancers.”
Mia Rossi is a third-year UC Santa Barbara student majoring in Sociology. She wrote this article for her Writing Program class, Journalism for Web and Social Media.