Sean Curran Company unconventionally beuatiful

BY EMILY EPSTEINCampus Times StaffThe performance of the Sean Curran company encompassed things ranging from confusing to awe-inspiring, but it was certainly never boring.The two-hour performance thre convention out the window and made you want to head for the nearest dance club, or at least practice your skills on a nearby platform.The company, which hails from New York City, has been going strong since its conception in 1997. This was obvious from its two sold out shows at Spurrier Dance Studio this past weekend.A large part of its success is owed to the company?s colorful leader and choreographer.HistoryCurran began his dance training with traditional Irish step dancing as a young boy in boston, Mass., and this background is evident in the company?s performances.His career as a leading dancer began in the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and he was an original member of the off-Broadway show STOMP for four years.Currently, Curran is involved in a multitude of dance projects and is a guest faculty member of New York University?s Tisch School for the Arts.The performance consisted of four lengthy dances with very different contents.ShowtimeThe first dance, ?Symbolic Logic,? had most of the dancers in the company wearing white leotards with different colored dots on their backs. Of all the dances, this one was probably the weakest, only because it went on a little too long.The music used was Sheila Chandra?s ?Indipop? which had a mystical feel to it. the stamina of the dancers was amazing ? even though there were breaks in the music, the dancing never stopped.Perhaps even more interesting was the mixture of dance styles used, including influences from yoga and martial arts.Second year medical student Michael Nguyen was particularly impressed.?It was my first exposure to modern. I?m used to ballet, but it?s very different,? he said. ?I liked the mixture of martial arts on top of the Indian dance ? it was a nice synthesis of multi-cultarilsm.?The next dance, ?The Nothing That is Not There and the Nothing That is,? was originally commissioned by Pittsburgh?s Dance Alloy in 1998. This dance was performed in dress clothes with two men in button-down shirts and slacks and two women outfitted in dresses.This dance seemed to address issues of sexuality, passion, trust and longing. Sometimes the couple would be mixed sex and other times the two women or two men would dance together.At times, the dancers would lean on each other as if playing trust games or would follow each other around appearing to try to convince each other of something. Sometimes the dancers would walk past each other and look longingly in the other dancer?s direction.This dance not only displayed incredible performance, but it was amazing how much emotion can be conveyed without words.The next dance, ?Abstract Concrete,? was very high-energy motivated by music that was mostly percussion. the dancers all wore bright-colored outfits and the dance consisted of moves that were repeated by the dancers, as if they were mimicking each other.Show highlightProbably the most incredible performance, however, was the last. ?Folk Dance for the Future (Traditional Methods/Post-modern Techniques)? was commissioned in 1997 by Celebrate Brooklyn, the fund for the Borough of Brooklyn.For this last dance, the men donned kilts and the women wore skirts and leotards. Unlike the seriousness of the other dances, this one had a sense of humor and fun to it that made it even more enjoyable to watch.The dancers were free to improvise, and Curran himself perofrmed a solo that not only showed off his incredible skill and ability, but also his grace and athleticism.Other dancers in the company performed solos as well. In a part at the end, three couples ? two same-sex and one mixed-sex ? used baby dolls in an elegant portrayal of the unconventional families that resembled a square dance.Wat struck me most was the athleticism and stamina of the dancers ? they could contort their bodies with swanlike elegance into some gravity-defying poses and conveyed so much with every move.The audience seemed equally enamored with the performance, and were impressed by the mixture of dance styles included.?I thought it was really unique how they [played with] the single sex theme and it was very unconventional,? sophomore Jenny Krapivinsky said.Curran ?had an awesome sense of humor and there were no boundaries. They were classically trained dancers, but [Curran] did something new with them,? she added.