Jered Solace lays the suspension hook in place, awaiting assembly.

Jered Solace hangs from the scaffolding created by the dancers onstage during performance of his piece.

Dance students present interactive works at SEARCH symposium

By: Nicole English

Posted: 4/7/08

UMKC's annual SEARCH (Students Engaged in Artistic and Academic Research) Symposium will showcase undergraduate research work on Friday, April 11. This year's Symposium will also feature two live presentations from students of the Conservatory of Music and Dance's Dance Division. Both students were mentored by former Dance Division Chair, Mary Pat Henry.

Catherine Johnson, a junior in the dance program, will be presenting a post-modern dance piece inspired by the work of Merce Cunningham. It is a collaborative piece, working with hand-picked fellow students in lighting technology, stage craft and music. The piece attempts to integrate these elements in the choreography in a very innovative and interactive way with the dancers.

"These were the people I really wanted to collaborate with when I proposed the piece," said Johnson when she presented the work at a special showing in Grant Hall. "They are simply the best to work with."

Jered Solace, a graduating senior from the dance program, will be presenting his piece from his senior recital. Another innovative piece, "The Workers" has the dancers actually construct scaffolding on stage while singing historic folk songs of immigrant workers. Once the scaffolding is constructed, the dancers hang suspended from it as part of the choreography, then reconstruct the scaffolding into other structures.

"I want to show people that art and performance, particularly dance, can be interesting and thought-provoking when derived from research," Solace said. "It is important to me that the audience members learn from their experience of watching/listening to the performance. ... Additionally, I want to give the dancers a unique performance and learning opportunity as well, which was an integral part of my creative process."

Solace's current piece, "The Workers," was inspired by an abstract writing he composed three years ago titled "Stars," where he compared people who make a positive difference in the human experience with astral bodies. For him, a piece focused on everyday life and labor was a natural beginning point to express this idea.

"'The Workers' piece was a necessary starting point for me because our society would not exist without laborers and the products they produce," Solace said. "Coming from a long line of 'workers' myself, this piece was extremely personal because it dramatizes not only the impact that laborers have on civilization, but the perseverance of the human spirit and need for expression."

Solace plans to continue to develop the choreography into a full-length ballet. In pursuing that goal, Solace, received a grant from the SEARCH committee to pursue the work.

"The SEARCH committee was generous enough to extend my grant to a two-semester long project," Solace said. "For my second semester I will be developing the second movement, 'The Inventors,' which will depict the work of people like Einstein, Edison and Bell, who through the determination of their efforts and creativity, changed the world."

After graduation, Solace plans to continue working on the choreography, and to present another excerpt from it at the Kansas City Fringe Festival in July. Additionally, he will be working at AileyCamp, sponsored by the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, which is a dance camp designed to help "at risk" children in the KC area.

"It's truly an amazing program that changes the lives of all involved," Solace added.

The SEARCH Symposium, featuring undergraduate research, will be held Friday, April 11 in Pierson Auditorium. Presentations will be given between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. with an awards ceremony to follow, from 4 to 5 p.m., featuring guest speaker Laura Lacey Haun, Dean of the UMKC School of Nursing.

nenglish@unews.com