Half man, half goat, all thespian.
Starting tomorrow, Scott Lowe, a second-year graduate student in dance, will perform in two of four performances of “The Afternoon of a Faun,” a joint presentation of BalletMet and the Ohio State Department of Dance, as a mythical half-goat, half-man creature called a faun.
“The Afternoon of a Faun,” written by Vaslav Nijinksy, debuted to controversy in 1913 because of its content matter and untraditional dance steps. The ballet is about a faun who fantasizes about encounters with wood nymphs.
Lowe said he saw the ballet four years ago and that the piece is one of the reasons he began dancing.
The ballet is a masterpiece first done a hundred years ago, said Jennifer Garda, a senior in dance and a rehearsal assistant. “It is an honor to (perform) and keep (the tradition) alive.”
Lowe said he graduated with a degree in engineering and that he was a boxer before beginning to dance relatively late in his undergraduate career.
“(Lowe is) very devoted and committed,” said Ruth Anselm, senior in dance.
Anselm will be playing opposite Lowe for two nights as the lead nymph.
“(Anselm) displays a great emotional connection and performance,” Garda said.
Anselm said it is an honor to be a part of this historic dance, though she’s just now starting to connect with it. The group has just recently begun dress rehearsals, she said.
She said she likes the piece because it has a classic appeal. The steps are not difficult, but the context of the positioning is complex, she said.
Anselm started dancing as a freshman in high school at the School of Arts in Rochester, N.Y., she said.
In addition to performing in “The Afternoon of a Faun,” Anselm will be performing in “The Rites of Spring,” also with BalletMet. This will be the second time she has danced with BalletMet, she said.
“It’s great to go out and work with groups of people you don’t know,” she said.
Anselm said she likes the intensity of the piece and how she is able to get caught up in the story.
The first part features a lot of movement, and the second part is more dramatic, she said.
She said there’s a lot of chaos, but the piece comes together well. The piece features more than 30 performers on stage at once.
“The Afternoon of a Faun” is one of the earliest modern dances, Anselm said. It was very cutting edge in terms of content, she said.
The dancers are reading their parts from notation based on the original score, Garda said.
The performers have been working on the piece for 15 weeks, Lowe said.
Garda said the dancers started practicing in winter, practicing three days a week and 30 minutes per day. Now, they practice two days a week for two hours per day, she said.
Because of all the time the dancers spend together, they are a very close-knit group that and are good friends outside of rehearsals, Garda said.
“The Afternoon of a Faun” will be performed at various times tomorrow through Sunday. Tickets are available at the Wexner Center for the Arts.
