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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1984)
Thursday, January 9, 1984/The Battalion/Page 9 A&M dance company looking for talented Aggies By CATHERINE CAMP BELL Reporter Ignoring their groans, bailee Company choreogra- her Lynn Berry scrutinizes 24 * uate btard-clad bodies stretching heir muscles during a vigorous rarin-up before Wednesday ght’s two-hour dance practice. “Hey, do you know Hit- jjer?” a weary voice gasps at lerry, as arched bodies quiver, loulders hug the floor, pel- Jses thrust up and hands clasp inkles in the torturous “fanny tmks" held for a 10-seconds ount. “Do you want to be danc- irs.'' Berry asks calmly, “or do [ouwant to be fat and sloppy?” "Fat and sloppy!” the voice houls back. Everyone giggles, -ewis ^ is a ience incial $500 : ma- i the i and plica- um I Ed- sium ill be iding :diat- assis- at 8 ' stu- ich is con- . and mpo- e for n ) has ation have Stu- ither andi- d by emis- rister j icluding Berry. sAg- radi- aney e the y will air inual Mall rers- tdea etion [ can i will corn 's of alien The Texas A&M Dance lompany is as professional a lance troupe as a troupe of un- iaid dancers can be. Berry said. Che campus-based company is modern and jazz dance troupe But unlike its competitor, the )ance Arts Society, it’s not a litb. The company holds audi- ions to find Aggies with supe- ior dancing abilitv. T he com- iany is designed for those lancers who want to work hard nd perform for exhibitions, lerry said. The studio appears to lx- afinitely filled with dancers as efleclions bounce off two op- losing mirrored walls. I he oom seems littered with hu- nan abstract art—contorted indies resembling Andy War- ml-styled patio furniture. Berry, 30, works her darte rs hard to build up a reper- aire of modern and jazz dances hal she and some of the com- iany members have choreo- Taphed. Berry said she wants he company to be ready for hort-notice performances. Berry said she hopes the Iwo-semester-old company will me day serve as a catalyst for leveloping a new physical edu- ation degree with an emphasis mdance. When Berry assembled the ompany last April, it was a 17- nember all-woman dance roupe. But the September au- litions brought in 76 to try for even positions, expanding the ompany to 20 women and four nen. With practice nearly over, lerry breaks away early to air photo by MIKE DA VIS Lynn Berry, choreographer for the A&M Dance Company practices Wednesday. swer questions. The petite, freckle-faced woman asks one of her more advanced dancers to lead the others through the rest of the dance routine. Berry heads toward the back of the studio and flops onto a metal chair. She begins tucking stray strands of red hair back up into the loose bun at the nape of her neck. Her glowing angular face lacks any trace of make-up. “Modern dance is some thing you can pick up,” Berry says. “You can do well in mod ern dance if you’re willing to put time into it. “You’ve got to have the time to put into dance practice, which means you’ve got to be doing well in school. You’ve got to be dedicated and willing to cut out something in your life if you want to dance, even if it’s your social life. “I don’t want it to be your school work because that’s what you’re here for. It’s a matter of getting organized—you may even have to start studying on the weekends.” Most of Berry’s dancers have between six and 18 years of experience in ballet, jazz or modern dance. A few have only had drill team experience, a thought that makes Berry shud der. Being captain of a drill team is not an asset, Berry says. “Some have never had strong technical dance training and drill-team makes them think they can really dance,” she says. “It becomes obvious that they haven’t had the train ing when they try modern dance. “It’s not that there’s any thing really wrong with drill- team, it’s just not real creative.” One of the company’s leading dancers, Carrie McEl- roy, says she doesn’t mind Ber ry’s teasing her about being Miss Drill-Team Texas of 1980. McElroy, a former instruc tor and now vice president of the Dance Arts Society, says the company gives her a chance to perform in what she believes is a professional sense. “I don’t feel like I’m a stu dent pretending to be a dancer,” McElroy says. “When you walk into the dance room and you start dancing, you don’t think about school; you’re in another world. “Dance is a form of exer cise as well as an art. It’s a form Q f Rental therapy because it takeS your mind off of school.” The company plans to put on a spring show but has post poned the performance indefi nitely unl *l it has funds to rent Rud J er Theater for the perfor- man^e. Berry says she’s opti- mistr*- l ^ e s h ow w iN draw a large crowd because of “the growing int e |-est in dance at Texas A&lJ” The company’s first show was in the Memorial Stu- dent Pouter lounge during Ca sino Night ’83, an activity spon sored each spring by the Resid ence Hall Association. g e ,. r y says that after the first danc^ number, seating was vir tually impossible to find. perry says she plans for the company to tour the College Static 11 junior high and high scho<d s lo introduce modern danc^ to younger audiences. When it seemed the com pany was destined to be all fe male, Berry says she panicked. Male dancers are necessary, she says if d ie company tours the scho’tf 1 district. ‘‘Modern dance is such a strong dance form,” Berry says. “You do push-ups and sit-ups, Send Dead Flowers! H a S your prof/boss/mate dumped on you? $3 delivered free Q a fnpus & College Station Areas 0^0* Early 696-3699 that with guys in it—if they do real strong dancing—the kids won’t think dancing is sissy.” Berry says she likes experi menting with new concepts in dance. She has been known to spend days of practice just tea ching her dancers to personify objects such as “rolling around like a grain of sand on the ocean’s floor.” This, she says, shows the dancers various ways to move and develop new steps for their own choreography. Choreographing a dance is not as easy as it looks, Berry says. “It’s the most disciplined thing in the world to have lo sit down with a piece of music and decide what idea you want to get across to an audience,” Berry says. HAPPY FOUNDERS DAY Pi Eta Chapter OF TAU KAPPA EPSILOK 4 years at Texas A&M LOVE THE TKE LITTLE SISTERS Democrat Jack Ogg is key target n antitrust trial against his company w Ws] w m k 4 A A A — 0 , v i>Rl« soN Fossils (All Colors) Pearls (Synlhelic, All Colors) Black Malian Oynx Crystal (All Colors) . . Sodalite. Ivory *5.00 *8.00 *8.00 *8.00 48.00 46.00 Gold Gold (Solid Brass). m United Press International HOUSTON — Sen. Jack )gg, D-Houston, was a key tar- jet Wednesday in trial of a $ 106 nillion federal antitrust suit igainst Ogg, Browning-Penis nduslries of Houston and a Hate health official. Houston-based Conserva tion Management Inc. charges BF1, Ogg, Jack Carmichael of file’Texas Department of Health solid waste division and BF1 Vice President Norman deyers conspired to block CM I Jans for a Katy waste dump. Since BFI and CM I are mpetitors in the waste dispo- albusiness, CMI charges BFI, Carmichael and Meyers inspired to limit competition k violation of federal antitrust I A federal grand jury re- lortedly is looking into the aile rons, but CMI’s civil suit <ent to trial in federal court luesday. BFI, Ogg, Carmichael and foyers deny wrongdoing. Lawyers for CMI charge 1F1 paid Ogg, a Houston Dem- mi, $25,000 for help and are suggesting the money paid Ogg was a payoff for influence-ped dling. In opening arguments Tuesday, CMI lawyer Joe Ja- mail of Houston said a 13-clay hearing on the ill-fated CMI landfill proposal in August 1979 was “corrupted by means of bribery, gifts, influence and false representations.” Jamail charged BFI vio lated antitrust laws “in an at tempt to monopolize the gar bage business in Harris County.” In July 1978, Jamail charged in his argument to the Jury that Ogg and three other men won a state permit to oper ate the Whispering Pines land fill at Little York Road and Mesa Drive in northwest Hous- Jewelry Rose Quartz *8.00 Malachile *35.00 14 K G .F *38.00 *6.00 Small Clasp *3.75 Large Clasp *6.00 At These Low Prices, They Won’t Last Long. Hurry, While Selection Is Good. Buy 3 strands and receive a ^ 3601 E. 29th St. Brookwood Square (2 blocks South of Bryan High School) MC& VISA ring clasp free. 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