By Claire Gallagher | Photo by Chloe Sanders
Monica Prince’s Choreopoem class performed their debut Choreopoem Festival, “Unquiet/Unbroken” on April 10 and 11.
The first choreopoem “Wish You Were Here” by Kate Adelman and Claire Gallagher was on Friday night at 7:30, and “Order up!” by Kathleen Baur, Lizzie Boyer, Ali de Mets, and Isabella Lapetina was on Saturday along with “Johnny Boy & Dan-the-Man in a Field of Wildflowers” by Payton Bell, Fayth Snyder, and Annie Sullivan at 2:30 p.m.
Each choreopoem performance was written entirely by the students in Prince’s class. The students then cast the shows, blocked them, rehearsed, and delegated lighting and sound cues with the help of Dr. Prince.
The first choreopoem was centered around love and relationships, featuring a ghost-child, a piano teacher, college students, a fortune teller, and the mystique of life and love amidst a world full of cynicism and “growing up.” The theme of the show was described by Prince as “how wonder and innocence disappear with life’s struggle, but ultimately, we must decide if we will be open to love, connection, and wonder.”
The second show, “Order up!” took place in a coffee shop, complete with prop cups, aprons, and an ensemble of characters that each explored their own limitations with age, their introspections about life, neurodivergence, gender, their role in society, and their chronic illnesses. The writers called their choreopoem “A Coffee Shop Choreopoem” as the entire show took place within a coffee shop, and characters were unnamed except for their coffee orders.
The last show, “Johnny Boy & Dan-the-Man in a Field of Wildflowers” followed a group of patients in a mental hospital as they navigated life behind closed doors, separated from family and the world. Concepts like age, fear, trauma, and addiction were present, and dance and song were utilized by characters.
This performance took place in multiple locations, and audience members were led by actors playing nurses into different spaces to watch scenes. Each character was named after a wildflower, and they wore flower crowns throughout the performance.
In the past, the class wrote and performed one choreopoem together, but the festival is set to become an annual tradition for Prince’s Choreopoem class. Stay tuned for next year!