Trois Morceaux Analysis

Trois Morceaux, originally choreographed by Anna Sokolow in 1990 and composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff was reconstructed by Artemis Preeshl and performed at the spring dance concert. It was originally choreographed for a 1990 New York concert, but it was never performed. In 1991 the original dancers videotaped Sokolow’s choreography. The video had been lost until Artemis Preeshl found it and reconstructed the piece, allowing for it to finally premier (program note).

The piece started in darkness, allowing the 4 female dancers to run to their spots. There the four girls stood facing each other in a square formation, center stage, each one acting as the corner. Each dancer was wearing a similar sheer black dress with pink accents. While no dress

They then sauté back to their original spots in the square formation. During this part of the piece the music was quick and upbeat, radiating a sort of joyful youthfulness to the performers movements. The four dancers repeated this sequence multiple times in a row, before the music turned more classical and the dancers spread out into two lines. The lights followed them, brightening the stage. There they began to dance a more traditional ballet combination full of arabesques and gleesides. Their arms were still very proper, stretching out and up, moving from first to third, but more elegant and graceful than their previous joyful hops. From here the music changed again, this time to a more ominous tone as the dancers moved to the upstage right corner and clumped together. Their movements were slow but deliberate as they folded on top of each other, wrapping their arms around the other performers. As they slowly rolled up their arms moved in bizarre ways, bending and twisting in motions very different to the previous classical ballet inspired portion of the piece. Then with their backs to the audience, their arms slowly came together and the front two dancers