Bryttni Pugh

Coyle

Ballet 2B

21 April 2016

Spring Dance Concert: Suite Otis

The soulful celebration presented within George Faisons choreography in Suite Otis

captivated my attention and brought forth humor, joy, romance, and sadness. The piece is

originally from 1971 and has since been coached and rehearsed by Rachel Tecora Tucker.

Throughout each section, the dancers appeared to take on the roles of sassy women and groovy

men, displaying relationships of love, annoyance, and support. The manner in which they moved

was elegant and evinced beauty effortlessly.

Male performers were first seen on stage wearing pink-purple bell bottoms with a tucked-

in matching top. The time period was apparent once the curtain gently lifted and a spotlight

illuminated a male figure. In a separate section of the twenty-five minute work, a single female

performer in a simple black dress was made visible on stage. The rest of the females in the piece

wore rose pink dresses that floated with grace and was ruffled with attitude. Although the woman

in black that danced passionately with a bouquet of flowers represented a widow, brighter color

choices seemed to deter one from dwelling on the sadness.

Six songs by Otis Redding were audible throughout the work: Dock of the Bay, One

More Day, Cant Turn You Loose, Lovers Prayer, Satisfaction, and Ive Been Loving

You. The first song began before the curtain was raised, a unique artistic choice. Other songs

gave the impression of story-telling; the dancers would act out how they felt as the music acted
like the soundtrack to their lives. They embraced the rhythm and emitted great confidence as

individuals, partners, and groups.

There was often a competition between the males and females; males would interrupt the

females, causing them to yell, become annoyed, and stop their movements. The atmosphere was

quite theatrical because of their means of communication. During the first group scene, a sense of

compassion could be felt as the woman in black steadily danced through her loss around the circle

of people. She was en pointe, and continuously repeated the same combination: chaines with open

Egyptian arms, arabesque turn, contract sharply at a low level, chaines with open Egyptian arms,

attitude turn, and contract sharply at a low level. The circle eventually peeled open and closed with

the same combination as the widow swiftly developpd to the side.

A comical point was when partners would dance cheek to cheek across a horizontal strip

of light, and a man was soon caught partnered up with the wrong woman. At other times the men

would scare off the women, and the women would have sassy remarks towards the mens behavior.

A mixture of ballet and Horton techniques were executed throughout the entire work including

movements such as a fondu, pivotal descent, hinge, fankick, contraction, flatback leg extension,

grand battement, cambre, and numerous pirouettes and chaines. The blend in the choreography

allowed for both raw emotion and poise.

Suite Otis, according to the program, is a celebration of the life and legacy of legendary

rhythm and blues singer Otis Redding; the featured songs represented the souls of individuals

through life, loss, and love. I did not and do not know much about Otis Redding, so I generalized

the cycle of emotions to myself and others. One could discover that, even though one may

unfortunately experience pain or loss, there is always an appropriate time (as well as an

inappropriate time) to jubilate, socialize, and encounter new relationships.