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by Jeffrey Stanley  "Okay, take two steps upstage...Upstage is away from me...Let's take it from the top...Turn into the fall...You're so cool, guys, you don't even know." Middle-Upper School dance teacher Jesse Phillips-Fein '93 watched her students like a hawk last week as they performed one of their final run-throughs for this week's BFS dance concert, which this year focuses on the works of Merce Cunningham and Michael Jackson. A themed evening like this one is unusual for the school's annual dance event.
"This is the first time I've tried the concept of tributes," said Jesse. "I arrived at the idea after seeing the movie about Michael Jackson This Is It. The film really moved me—seeing his artistry, his attention to details, and his very gentle but exacting approach to working with his musicians and dancers—I was inspired."
Sixth grader Lulu, who performs in both tribute dances, is partial to Merce Cunningham. "[At the end of his life] he was a in a wheelchair so he used a lot of video and did choreography using computers," she explained. "He was very experimental." This will mark Lulu's first dance performance at BFS but outside of school she dances "a lot," performing at Peridance in Manhattan and Dancewave in Brooklyn since the age of 7. As for her BFS debut concert, "I really like it," she said. "It started all coming together upstairs in the dance studio and now we're rehearsing it on the stage under the lights, it's exciting."
 The concert, which involves over 90 students including performers and crew, promises a diversity of styles including Caribbean, Haitian, folk Indian, hip-hop, jazz, modern, lyrical and tap. "You'll leave with your heart bigger and more open," promised Jesse.
Bakari, Noah and Ray form an identically dressed trio onstage and stand out as the show's only sixth grade boys brave enough to tackle the task of performing in their first dance concert. For Bakari, Michael tops Merce hands down. "Merce Cunningham is very random. I grew up listening to Michael Jackson," he said. "Nobody can really do his moves besides him, that's unique about him."
Noah agrees. "We're basically in a way bringing him back," he said of Jackson. 'It's exciting."
Ray differed from his two partners and was one of the few pro-Merce standouts in the ensemble. "I like Cunningham," he said. "The dances are pretty great and I hadn't heard of him."
Jesse knew going in that Michael has name recognition, especially for this age group, and that Merce would be an unknown, which is precisely why she chose this world-renowned choreographer who also died in 2009 just one month after Jackson. "Merce, in his own sphere, was as revolutionary," she said. "He separated dance from music, and dance from story. In this way he’s different from Michael, who is very much about fitting dance and music together."
Their distinct differences aside, she also encouraged students to think about their similarities. Jackson had a lasting impact on using dance to convey narrative in music videos. "Merce also used video in a new way to create choreography once he became older and couldn’t move his own body anymore," said Jesse. "The Merce tribute has a video made by junior Abbi , matched using the method of 'chance,' which Merce also pioneered, set to a song written by senior David inspired by John Cage, Merce’s long time partner and collaborator."
Senior Kaveise, who intends to continue performing dance in college while majoring in criminal psychology, has been dancing in BFS concerts since ninth grade, and was hard pressed to decide whom she likes better, Michael or Merce. "That's hard. I've grown up with Michael Jackson so he's the ultimate for me," she said, echoing Bakari.
Jesse issued a final word of caution to this weekend's audiences. "I'm excited to educate our community about Cunningham...but I don't want people to think one is pop art and the other is high art. In my mind, both of these artists were incredible and made awesome contributions to dance."
The concert is this Thursday, March 11th at 6pm, and Friday and Saturday at 7pm. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults and are available from Cheryl at the front desk in the BFS lobby. TECH CREW Stage Manager - Willa
Light Board - Lisa
Sound - Andrew
Assistant SM-Backstage - Spencer
Gel Changers
Stage Right - Espie (Chief), Dylan
Stage Left - Sonjia (Chief), Alan
Floater - CJ
PERFORMERS Abby
Anna
Bakari
Grace
Jackson
Jaden
Lucia
Mason
Meledi
Mia
Ness
Noah
Ray
Rohaana S
Sonya
Zoe
Calli
Jumoke
Tyler
Jonathan
Eve
Kariesha
Jo
Louisa
Olivia
Tricia
Giovanna
Hannah
Aoife
Bronwyn
Madeline
Rachel H
Rachel T
Olivia
Sofia
Sarah
Alana
Tyler
Anna
Aria
Priya
Clara
Elinor
Lily
Lizzy
Anna
Alex
Adam
Lucas
Lee
Melina
Amara
Azuri
Janna
Rukiya
Victoria
Crystal
Shani
Bianca
Amaris
Zoe
Erin
Ismaelly
Matty
Sonja
Tiffany
Kevin
Jacob
Espi
Hannah
Nina
Desta
Gesselle
Abbi
Krystal
Aphriana
Mizami
Asha Boston
Kaveise
Asha
Jamara
Rufaro
Axita
Sophia
Allie
Dominique
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