By Nicole Kobie
Peggy Baker’s coming to campus.
Unless you’re involved in the local dance community, that probably doesn’t excite you. However, if you’re a dance student and aficionado like Dana Llowen, you’d understand. Llowen is a performer in the Baker-choreographed piece, "Le Charme de L’impossible."
"By far, the time I worked with her was short, but it was the most influential [time] I’ve ever had," says Llowen. "She has a wealth of knowledge. She’s articulate and effective at getting what she wants out of the dancers in her piece."
The piece in question is one of three performances in the Dance at Noon project, to be held April 5-6 in the University Theatre. Previous editions of the project were created by senior students, but with no choreography course this semester, members of the local dance community were called in to take over.
In January, this problem was solved when a dancer from the National Ballet School taught the students for four intensive days. The music for the piece is a rhythmically-complex piano duet, making such intensity necessary. The charged, quick-beat music, is full of different time signatures, making it seem as impossible as the name suggests.
"It was a weird experience. I’ve never done anything like that before," she says. "The [other] dancers would always complain. We didn’t know if we could actually do it."
However, massive amounts of practice have brought the originally difficult dance into the realm of the possible.
Llowen says this presentation is perfect even for non-arts oriented students, as a question and answer period follows the dances.
"I think it’s important that students expose themselves to modern dance," begins Llowen. "This performance is good for people who have never seen modern dance… so if they aren’t sure what the philosophy is, they can ask."
This opportunity is not only perfect for students, but for Llowen too. While she only started to dance in her late teens, it is now her favourite form of expression. Though surely only the beginning of her career, this performance is her favourite.
"I wouldn’t trade anything for it," says Llowen. "It was surreal."