Director: Jasmine Roth
Assistant Director: Anya Hilpert
Lighting Designer: James Gallo
Video Designer: Qixin Zhang
Scenic Design: Sierra Young
Sound Design: Annie Nguyen
DESIGN STATEMENT:
Dance Nation is a play about young women finding, fighting, and embracing their inner selves. Through the lens of comedy and conversation, we see 7 dancers fight for the grace of their dance teacher, bleeding and breaking themselves in the process. But
it isn't really about 13 year old girls- it's about the human experience of finding yourself in the midst of societal expectations and pressure. It is ageless, and the scenic design aims to reflect this malleability through the use of several mirrors and ballet barres-- pieces of a dance studio so distant it is almost forgotten. As the audience
enters, they recognize a plain dance studio, perhaps with dancers practicing, but as the show progresses, we learn that we are not in the dance studio, but the ghost of what it once was. The spaces we inhabit in our adolescence shape who we become when we are adults. We see our memories through the lens of the place– in this case a dance studio. I want to make the audience feel the oppression of that trauma and the imprint it has left on these girls. Using the tension grid and undercats, a chaotic cloud of traditional dance studio items– trophies, pictures of old teams, shoes, leotards, etc– will hang above the audience, the tulle of the tutu’s extending towards the tension grid and oppressing the girls with the values of fitting in they represent. This is contrasted by the extremely tall and oppressive mirror units, at a slight angle to accommodate media and further enforce the solidity of the dance studio.
it isn't really about 13 year old girls- it's about the human experience of finding yourself in the midst of societal expectations and pressure. It is ageless, and the scenic design aims to reflect this malleability through the use of several mirrors and ballet barres-- pieces of a dance studio so distant it is almost forgotten. As the audience
enters, they recognize a plain dance studio, perhaps with dancers practicing, but as the show progresses, we learn that we are not in the dance studio, but the ghost of what it once was. The spaces we inhabit in our adolescence shape who we become when we are adults. We see our memories through the lens of the place– in this case a dance studio. I want to make the audience feel the oppression of that trauma and the imprint it has left on these girls. Using the tension grid and undercats, a chaotic cloud of traditional dance studio items– trophies, pictures of old teams, shoes, leotards, etc– will hang above the audience, the tulle of the tutu’s extending towards the tension grid and oppressing the girls with the values of fitting in they represent. This is contrasted by the extremely tall and oppressive mirror units, at a slight angle to accommodate media and further enforce the solidity of the dance studio.
Ballet bars represent the division created between the girls by dance
teacher Pat. In this way, we can remind the audience of the ever present competition and division established in the first studio scene. A single cubby unit and a bin of fabric will serve as levels for DTP to stand and direct the girls, discuss adult matters, etc. They will also form beds, benches, and a car to make our world, while moldable and representative of many places, constantly be haunted by the dance studio. Overall this scenic design serves not as a location, but as a canvas for these memories and stories to unfold– and ultimately a blank slate to showcase the other design elements.
teacher Pat. In this way, we can remind the audience of the ever present competition and division established in the first studio scene. A single cubby unit and a bin of fabric will serve as levels for DTP to stand and direct the girls, discuss adult matters, etc. They will also form beds, benches, and a car to make our world, while moldable and representative of many places, constantly be haunted by the dance studio. Overall this scenic design serves not as a location, but as a canvas for these memories and stories to unfold– and ultimately a blank slate to showcase the other design elements.
Scale Model - Side View
Drafting - Dance Studio in it's "Natural Form"
