When sophomore Andromeda Bruschke heard that this year’s Spring Dance Concert theme was centered around books, she knew exactly which story to bring to life. Bruschke based her dance on Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1792 book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, a prominent piece of early feminist literature that she learned about in her AP European History class.
Dance teacher Andrea Oberlander asks students to give presentations to pitch which dance will be included in the show. Most students take only a few minutes to mention their song choice and possible costumes. Bruschke, however, gave a scholarly lecture on the feminist lens, quoting from the book and quoting parallel lyrics from Taylor Swift’s “Mad Woman.”
Bruschke wanted to focus on how misogyny is a cycle. At the beginning of the dance, the dancers were more reserved and graceful in their movements, signifying the expectations for women. As the dance continued, the dancers became more sporadic and exaggerated with their movements, showing how they realized their potential and were breaking out of the cycle. However, at the end, one of the dancers parted from the rest of the group and walked off while the rest of the dancers followed. “It’s supposed to show how even when you realize [the cycle] is wrong, you just keep doing the same thing because it’s hard to change, and if one person does that everyone follows,” said Bruschke.
Junior Hannah Cheon based her piece on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1887 novel A Study in Scarlet, the first book in the Sherlock Holmes series. Cheon says some parts of choreographing based on a book emulated staging a musical theater production.
“I totally got that musical theater feel,” Cheon said. “I’m always telling my dancers to really act out their character, especially my dancer who’s playing Sherlock Holmes, Olivia Gomez.”
FUHS dance has their last performance is Dance Production and Advance Dance’s capstone choreography project on May 17 at 7:30 p.m in the little theater. Admission is $5 at the door.
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Editor-in-Chief Katherine Martinez contributed to this story.
