Since the renovation of Sullivant Hall began earlier in the year, several Ohio State dance students were left without a theater space in which to practice or hold shows.
However, this hasn’t stopped three OSU dance students from presenting their collaborative work, “Physical Graffiti,” on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Northland Performing Arts Center.
Chafin Seymour, a fourth-year in dance, has been preparing for his senior project piece for more than a year and was hoping that he would be able to showcase it on the Sullivant Hall stage one last time before he graduated.
Seymour made it his mission to find a performance space and shared his idea with dance students, Michael Abbatiello, a third-year in dance, and Rebecca Quintrell, a fourth-year in dance. The three then created a collaborative group called Seymour Dance Collective.
Seymour will perform a 24-minute dance he has choreographed to music from the group Animal Collective. Abbatiello and
Quintrell will also showcase some of their contemporary choreography to music ranging from dubstep to Tyler the Creator.
Seymour Dance Collective came from the idea of introducing young artists’ work and getting a glimpse of their lives through dance.
“It’s really important to me because it’s not just about my work, but all of us working collaboratively to produce our own work,” Seymour said.
Seymour said the name reflects how the collective is collaboratively exposing their work, as well.
“I chose to call the event ‘Physical Graffiti’ because of the way in which I feel we are throwing our names and our work out there for the public to see, much in the same way the graffiti writers do with their art,” Seymour said in an email.
Abbatiello met Seymour through taking similar dance classes. They have been working on this project for more than two months.
He will be in three dance numbers, which he helped choreograph and he hopes people will enjoy watching the performances.
“Normally we just dance to dance, but now we are dancing to show ourselves as human beings,” Abbatiello said. “We really want to show that dance is something that you don’t have to understand, but as long as you enjoy it and have fun, it’s worth seeing.”
David Covey, a dance professor who has been assisting the students with their technique, has shadowed the show and helped the students prepare.
Covey said the venue where they will be performing, which was an old JCPenney, is going to be the temporary space the dance department will use until the Sullivant Hall renovation is completed.
“Physical Graffiti” will be the first to show at the space this year.
“I would love people to also come out and see the space because it is open for the community to use, and the more people that know about it, the better,” he said.
Quintrell was not available for comment.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Northland Performance Arts Center on 4411 Tamarack Blvd.
