Huntsville's NobleMotion Dance group captures Austin Audience

Huntsville’s own NobleMotion Dance wowed audiences in Austin this weekend as they performed  their original work, Splitting Ether: A Reality Bending Dance.

Teetering on the mediums of theater and modernism, Splitting Ether captivated patrons with exciting technological use of lighting and smoke to create a subconscious universe that the audience became immersed in.

“Landing Light” portrayed isolationism confined to a mere spotlight. Featuring dancer Brittany Thetford, her stressful, constrained movements impressed senses of anxiety and lonesome depression hinging on the dependency of outside forces. Thetford composed herself strongly, though she portrayed a weakened character. She was accompanied by freshman dancer Rachael Hutto and senior dancer Joe Shepherd who assumed the roles of doctors in scrubs.  

Thetford resisted the gravity Hutto and Shepherd magnetized on her, eventually disappearing within the curtain that forcefully shut her from view.  Thetford had a brief appearance that was unsatisfying. Her anxiety and depression built a wall of sympathy from the audience that was stripped away and left the piece unfulfilled.

Dancer Tristin Ferguson continued the piece with a captivating solo accessorized with layered videos complimenting her movements. Although her solo was strong, it was too brief to make a better impact.  

The piece continued with a solo featuring dancer Erin Reck contorting her body around placed camera tripods capturing her grace and vulnerability.

Reck’s solo introduced intimacy in the set, but with an unneeded anxiety accompanied outside of the cameras. Anxiety and tension took precedence over “Landing Light,” but the gravity the dancers exhumed pulled the audience into their stratosphere and enveloped them in an intimate fog distorted by light.

The set concluded with “Lorelei’s Whisper” which astonished the audience with its epic control of the stage as the performers tip-toed between diffracted light and a curtain of fog that consumed the dance hall. Dancers commanded their use of the stage and captured the audience as they reached out to each individual to create their own sense of intimacy.

Lighting and Technical Artist David Deveau composed a haunting stage layout that conducted the dancers and manipulated the light that teased the audience and intensified the anxiety and intimacy throughout the performance. Deaveu’s lighting projected no prejudice by consuming each dancer equally. Without his projections, Splitting Ether would have been obsolete and empty.

With music performed by Mozart, “Lorelei’s Whisper” broke the boundary of the subconscious and reality. Dancers acted the role of mythological sirens that tantalized the audience with their silhouettes moving in and out of the fog and light. With a cooling feeling of sullen calmness, the piece concluded with an abrupt explosion of bellowing opera accompanied with unrestrained movements expressed by the entire NobleMotion cast.

“Lorelei’s Whisper” was the high point in the the performance. The preceding pieces seemed as fillers compared to the finale but still necessary to the entire story that unfolded.  Head Choreographers SHSU faculty members Andy Noble and Dionne Sparkman Noble showed sure understanding of their pieces to set the order of each set and implement the entire cast to enhance the boldness and power of “Lorelei’s Whisper.”

The performance awakened Texas to the talent and unique style of NobleMotion.  The Texas art scene should expect to see the Huntsville company rise through the national and into the international scene with pieces continuing to stretch the boundaries of dance.

For more information on NobleMotion, visit their website at www.noblemotiondance.com to view upcoming events and a listing of the entire cast.

Sam Houston State University students will be able to see the performance during the summer with dates yet to be released.