Bodies Becoming: A Review 

Bella Chirkis ’27

News Editor 

Since the Tripod’s first review of “Bodies Becoming: Three Evenings of Choreographic Research” I had the pleasure of viewing the second showing of the project, which took place in Trinity Commons on Oct. 24. This presentation introduced choreography and vocalizations through the work of Sara Smith. Smith is a transdisciplinary choreographer and librarian who creates documentary performances as well as works exploring interconnection. Audiences of Trinity students and faculty viewed the work by Smith named  “Inside the Breath (In Network Time).” Through movement and choral singing, Smith embodied an “imagined utopia” that was rooted in ecological and social questions. Smith’s inspiration from this piece came from the theories of Gloria Anzaldúa and her models of octopuses. Trinity students and community members are able to see the last of the three choreographic events of “Bodies Becoming” on Dec. 5, with work by Brandon Coulette. 

This show was very interesting and easy to follow because of the visuals and audios that were played while dancers, Alex Garrian ’27 and Orfeas Spyraki ’28, moved throughout the space. Dancers were replicating patterns of an octopus’ tentacles while swimming, walking in specific patterns on the stage. Behind the dancers, Smith projected those patterns as well as visuals of octopuses and the social themes and theories she was conveying through these movements. In between each section of choreography, singers Abigail Gomes ’28, Emma Lemiuex ’28, Kat St. Amand ’28, Tracy Xu ’26, Associate Professor of Theater and Dance Rebecca Pappas and Smith sang a short song with harmonic values to further the thinking of these social and ecological themes through the audience. The singing gave a nice touch to the show, and gave breaks through the movement and choreography. This was very unique and the songs the singers sang would build and add more dialogue as the show went on, and as the audience gained a greater understanding of the true idea of the show. 

The costumes in the show were simple, yet furthered the audience’s understanding of the overarching idea. Each dancer wore a blue shirt with light blue on it, representing some sort of wave and giving the idea that they were an octopus swimming through the sea. Each dancer had simple brown pants on, which reminded me of earth tones, and I think this was intentional when representing the Earth and questions that arose about human life throughout the works. Each singer wore similar attire, with some pops of color in the shirts which overall gave more variety to the clothing. I wish the costumes for the singers had more of an intention with the color coordination as the dancers’ did.

The set was very simple, there was one table in the center of the stage. This table was used for the dancers to trace the path of the octopus through their fingertips, after demonstrating these pathways with their bodies. I thought that the lighting did a lot for this show; it was focused on the table and the rest of the stage was in pure darkness. The show started in a complete blackout, which ignited excitement for me and the rest of the audience as we were anticipating the start of the show and what was going to be coming next. The choice of yellow and blueish lighting helped me understand the setting of the deep ocean.