By Minnie Stephenson
The University of Maryland School of Theater, Dance and Performance Studies kicked off a season of performances with its Experimental Performance Series on Friday.
The show featured three separate performances, choreographed by both undergraduate and graduate students studying dance.
To start the show, junior dance and marketing major Greta Cover performed “Efflorescence,” a piece she choreographed herself.
“I came up with Efflorescence, which means the action or process of developing and unfolding as if coming into a flower,” said Cover. “You’re growing into your own self and who you want to be, kind of like blooming.”
Four other dance students performed with Cover but she said her own performance was limited because she sprained her ankle over winter break. The dancers mirrored each other in the piece often, symbolizing how Cover is growing into her own, despite having multiple identities and versions of herself throughout her life. The dancers held actual hand mirrors at times as well.
“With my mom, I’m stubborn and argumentative. With my friends, I’m outgoing and fun and caring,” said Cover. “If I have all these different versions of myself and two personas, then … who do I identify my own self to be?”
When it came to the technical elements of the piece, Cover collaborated with others.
She came up with the costumes herself, which were neutral-colored tops with black dance shorts. Cover said she worked together with her lighting designer to come up with different brightness levels, colors and patterns throughout the piece.
Although starting in silence, the dancers in “Efflorescence” were accompanied by the acoustic song “Happiness Does Not Wait” by Ólafur Arnalds and the experimental song “Blue Echo” by Drehz.
From left to right: Jaiden Hanley, Raquel Ziolkowski, Casie Curry and Gabrielle Cramer perform in “Efflorescence.” Photo by Minnie Stephenson. 
From left to right: Jaiden Hanley, Cassie Curry, Raquel Ziolkowski and Gabrielle Cramer perform in “Efflorescence.” Photo by Minnie Stephenson. 
Dancers perform “Efflorescence.” Photo by Minnie Stephenson.
Graduate dance student Carlo Antonio Villanueva choreographed the last piece of the program entitled “natürliches sparkle, natürlich,” which literally translates to “natural sparkle, of course.”
“I like this title because it mixes simple German and English and when somebody goes to read it, they might wonder what it means,” said Villanueva. “It’s kind of like a very short poem.”
The piece is based on another that Villanueva choreographed in 2017, but with added choreography, new dancers and new music.
Villanueva also collaborated on the technical elements of this piece, including lighting, sound and projection design. The piece included cricket sounds from the original 2017 performance, as well as the song “Pretending” by SOPHIE.
From left to right: Hana Huie, a UMD alum, Carlo Antonio Villanueva and Brit Falcon, a graduate dance student perform in “natürliches sparkle, natürlich.” Photo by Minnie Stephenson. 
From left to right: Brit Falcon, Carlo Antonio Villanueva, Casie Curry and Hana Huie perform in “natürliches sparkle, natürlich.” Photo by Minnie Stephenson. 
From left to right: Hana Huie, Brit Falcon and Casie Curry perform in “natürliches sparkle, natürlich.” Photo by Minnie Stephenson. 
From left to right: Carlo Antonio Villanueva, Brit Falcon and Casie Curry perform in “natürliches sparkle, natürlich.” Photo by Minnie Stephenson.
Christian Riordan, a junior environmental science major, attended the performance to support Cover, his friend. He was excited to see how the lights and technical elements would come together.
“I know she’s really excited about it, she put a lot of work into it,” he said.
Freshman art history major Rain Aman was also in attendance Friday in support of Villanueva, a professor in her theater class.
“I came to a performance last semester and it was brilliant,” she said. “Having them choreograph and dance in it is really cool.”
Villanueva is simply excited that his work can be shown to an audience, echoing the sentiments of other creators in a time where in-person performances are not promised.
“[The piece] completes its meaning when other people see it and they begin to interpret what’s going on,” he said.
