With beads of sweat dotting their skin, seven barefooted Buglisi Dance Theatre company members stopped their Monday rehearsal and focused on the choreographer.

‘Martha used to say ‘movement doesn’t lie,” said Artistic Director Jacqulyn Buglisi, referring to the iconic modern choreographer Martha Graham. ‘It’s not playing with your body, it’s being real.’

With those words, practice resumed with the lingering reinforcement of the Buglisi Dance Theatre’s mission: theatrically presenting movement that is a physical expression of human emotions.

Following its Sept. 21 performance of ‘The Table of Silence Project 9/11,’ the 17-year-old modern dance company will once again infuse its emotive style into the performance at the Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater on Saturday. Based in New York City, this critically acclaimed company was founded by four Martha Graham Dance Company members. Instead of working with local performers this time, BDT will team up with Syracuse University’s Symphony Orchestra and University Singers for the first time to round out its three-week residency at the university through SU’s Arts Engage office.

‘It’s a special gift to work with these young students and people like James Tapia and John Warren, who are able to bring their students into professional theater and have this kind of unity of energy and inspiration that comes together in a very passionate performance,’ Buglisi said. 

On Saturday, the 11 performers will present dances ‘Sand,’ ‘Blue Cathedral,’ ‘Prelude’ and ‘Against All Odds’ to various musical recordings. The orchestra and the singers will then accompany the final piece of the show, Gabriel Faure’s ‘Requiem,’ inspired by the light seeping through ground zero. Though BDT has danced the piece since its creation in 2001, co-founder and principal dancer Terese Capucilli explained that Saturday’s rendition of the performance will mark a first for the group.

In Saturday’s show, the group will dance entirely to live music —a challenge that the performers took on by working closely during their four rehearsals.

‘It creates a lot of sensitivity between the performer and the conductor in a big way,’ Capucilli said. ‘You have to listen with every pore in your body.’

Although the five movements in ‘Requiem’ are not technically difficult, the real test is collaboration, said Matthew Scinto, a senior viola performance major and SU Symphony Orchestra violist.

‘We have to find some ground of commonality and agreement on certain things,‘Scinto said. ‘For the most part, we have to follow what the dance company wants us to do because they’ve performed this before under certain conditions.’

Ensuring that the music’s tempo parallels what the company is familiar with is also crucial for the SU Singers, director John Warren said, especially when being synchronized with the dancers’ movements.

The dancers’ use of breath anddeeply contracted torsos are key identifiers of Buglisi’s work. While some movements are rooted in techniques pioneered by Graham, Buglisi’s choreography is unique in itsfocus on capturing human vulnerability and strength. Through past pieces of its program, BDT hopes to convey themes of peace and renewalto the audience.

‘When they see the performance there is something that they can relate to within what we’re speaking about,’ Buglisi said. ‘That they see an image that resonates with them, that might move them in some way.’

dvillalo@syr.edu

Published on October 26, 2011 at 12:00 pm